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Author: 


Allen,  Charles  Ricketson 


Title: 


The  foreman  and  his  job 


Place: 


Philadelphia 


Date: 


[1922] 


MASTER   NEGATIVE   # 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DIVISION 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


ORIGINAL  MATERIAL  AS  FILMED  -    EXISTING  BIBLIOGRAPHIC  RECORD 


tnes4 


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Allen,  Charles  Ricketson,  1862- 

The  foreman  and  his  job ;  a  handbook  for  foremen  and 
for  leaders  of  foremen's  conferences;  a  companion  book 
to  **The  instructor,  the  man  and  the  job*'  by  Charles  R. 
Allen  ...  Philadelphia  and  London,  J.  B.  Lippincott  com- 
pany [^922] 


ctn 


ix,  526  p.    illus.    26 


1.  Factory  management.    2.  Efficiency,  Industrial.        i.  Title. 


Library  of  Congress 
Copy  2. 


Copyright    A  661004 


Q 


TS155.A4 


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RESTRICTIONS  ON  USE: 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


GRADUATE 

SCHOOL  OF  BUSINESS 

LIBRARY 


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THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


i- 


THE  FOREMAN  AND 

HISJOB 

A  HANDBOOK  FOR  FOREMEN 
AND  FOR  LEADERS  OF  FOREMEN'S 

CONFERENCES 


A  COMPANION  BOOK  TO 
"THE  INSTBIJCTOR,  THE  MAN  AND  THE  JOB" 


BY 

CHARLES  R.  ALLEN 

SOUSTHf  E  AGENT  POB  THE  mOUSTRIAL  TRAXNINO  OF  BOTB  AND  ICEN,  llAaaACHUBETTS  BOABO  OT 
ia>TJCATION,  BUPEBINTENDENT  OF  INSTBUCTOB  TILIINZNO,  U.  S.  B.  B.   EMEBOENCT 
FLEET  COBFORATION,  SPECIAL  AGENT,  FEDEBAL  BOABD  FOB  VOCATIONAL  EDU- 
CATION,    AND    IN   CHABGE   OF   FOBEMAN    CONFEBENCE8,    BMPLOTMXVT 
lUNAQKBS   SECTION,    CHAMBEB    OF    COMMEBCE,    NIAOABA  FALLS 

NEW  TOBK 


PfflLADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


i 


1 


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oonBnaR,  1913,  bt  j,  a.  tavaiaui  co¥rAaT 


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WUKTKP  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THK  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PBILADBU'HIA,  U.  S.  A. 


/X" 


PREFACE 

The  last  few  years  have  witnessed  a  greatly  increased 
interest  in  the  improvement  of  foremanizing  and  in  the  work 
of  other  minor  executives  in  both  industrial  and  commercial 
organizations.  This  interest  has  led  to  the  development  of 
a  number  of  different  plans  for  accomplishing  this  purpose. 
Among  these  plans  had  been  the  development  of  what  has 
come  to  be  known  as  foremans  conferences,  in  which  foremen 
or  other  minor  executives  are  brought  together  under  the 
direction  of  a  "conference  leader"  for  the  discussion  of  mat- 
ters affecting  the  factors  entering  into  the  efficiency  of 
their  work  and  the  methods  whereby  those  elements  could 
be  worked  out  to  the  best  advantage  under  their  own  special 
working  conditions. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  connected  with  work 
of  this  special  type  to  a  considerable  degree,  either  as  a 
conference  leader,  as  an  adviser  to  various  industrial  plants 
where  such  work  was  conducted,  or  in  carrying  on  work 
whose  purpose  was  to  train  both  plant  representatives  and 
representatives  of  public  educational  departments  to  organ- 
ize and  to  carry  on  this  work. 

As  this  work  has  developed  it  has  become  evident  that, 
while  the  program  for  each  plant  should  be  specially  based 
upon  the  particular  organization  of  that  plant,  the  special 
character  of  its  product,  and  the  special  procedure  or 
standard  practice,  the  different  subjects  taken  up  for  dis- 
cussion must  be  projected  against  some  sort  of  a  classified 
lay-out  of  the  job  of  a  minor  executive  or  foreman. 

It  has  also  appeared  that  there  is  a  need  for  bringing 
together  material  drawn  from  the  results  of  such  con- 
ference discussions  and  conclusions  to  serve  as  a  suggestive 
guide  to  anyone  having  the  responsibility  for  conducting 


WE 


PREFACE 


such  conferences.  It  has  further  appeared  that  under  many 
conditions,  suggestive  "notes  "  and  other  "  instruction  ma- 
terial "  could  be  used  to  advantage,  if  used  in  the  right  way. 

The  material  in  this  book  therefore  consists  essentially 
of  points  raised  and  discussed  in  foremen's  conferences  organ- 
ized around  a  fairly  comprehensive,  but  by  no  means  com- 
plete analysis  of  the  foremans  job  and  is  intended  to  be  of 
service  to  the  conference  leader  in  carrying  on  the  work, 
to  the  members  of  the  conference  group,  and  to  aid  in  the 
making  up  of  programs  for  a  series  of  conferences. 

While  not  intended  for  a  "reading  book"  it  is  hoped  that 
it  may  be  of  service  to  foremen  and  other  minor  executives 
who  may  be  interested  in  getting  a  "  bird's-eye  view  "  of  their 
jobs  and  who  are  interested  in  ways  and  means  whereby  their 
work  may  be  carried  on  to  better  advantage. 

Since  it  is  not  expected  that  the  different  chapters  will 
be,  of  necessity,  taken  up  in  the  order  in  which  they  are 
given,  a  certain  amount  of  repetition  has  been  necessary.  An 
endeavor  has,  however,  been  made  to  hold  such  repetitions 
down  to  the  necessary  minimum. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  while  this  book  deals  more 
directly  with  the  problems  of  a  foreman  in  an  industrial 
plant,  the  questions  raised  and  the  suggestions  made  apply 
almost  exactly  as  well  to  any  one  who  has  supervisory,  mana- 
gerial and  instructing  responsibilities  whether  in  the  plant 
or  in  the  office  or  even  in  commercial  establishments,  and 
that  the  discussions  deal  in  general  with  the  problems  that 
come  into  the  field  of  any  executive.  This  is  true,  of  course, 
because  the  problems  with  which  any  executive  or  super- 
visor has  to  deal  are  largely  independent  of  the  particular 
kind  of  work  that  he  has  under  his  direction. 
NiAGAEA  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Nov.  1, 1921. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PARTI 
THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT 


CHAPTEB 


y^I. — ^The  Foreman  and  the  Plant 
(^  II. — The  Foreman's  Jobs 


pagc 

3 

10 


PARTI  I 

THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS 

HI. — The  Departmental  and  the  Job  Analysis 

IV. — ^Making  the  Analysis  of  a  Supervisory  Job    . 

V. — Making   the   Supervisory   Lay-out  for   the   Job   of   a 
Given  Foreman 

VI. — ^Making  the  Analysis  of  a  Managerial  Job 

VH. — The  Further  Extension  of  the  Analysis 

PART  III 

PUTTING  OVER  THE  SUPERVISORY  JOB 

VIII. — Tying  Up  Procedure  and  Responsibilities 
IX. — The  Conditions  of  Effective  Supervision 
X. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  Supervision 

PART  IV 


31 
52 

77 
86 
97 


111 
116 

123 


THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WORKING 

FORCE  BLOCK  INTO  SPECIFIC  AND  DETAILED 

RESPONSIBILITIES 

XI. — Detailed  and   Specific  Responsibilities  on  the  Distri- 
bution of  the  Working  Force 

XII. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  the  Dis- 
tribution of  the  Working  Force   .        .        .        . 


137 
145 


PART  V 


THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  INFORMATION  BLOCK  INTO  SPECIFIC 
AND  DETAILED  RESPONSIBILITIES 

XIII. — Specific  and  Detailed   Responsibilities   on  the   Hand- 
ling OF  Information 179 

XIV. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  the  Hand- 
ling of  Information 190 

VII 


▼m 


TABLE  OP  CONTENTS 


PART  VI 

THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK  INTO 
DETAILED  AND  SPECIFIC  RESPONSIBILITIES 

XV.— Specific  and  Detailed  Responsibilities  as  to  the  Phy- 
sical Condition  op  the  Working  Force  .        .        .        229 

XVI. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  the  Phy- 
sical Condition  op  the  Working  Force   .        .        .        243 

PART  VII 

THE  HUMAN  FACTORS  (CONTINUED) 

XVII. — Specific  and    Detailed   Responsibilities  as  to   the 

Mental  Attitude  of  the  Working  Force  (Morale)        295 
XVIII. — The  Human  Factor  Block.  Cost  Elements  and  Mana- 
gerial PROBLEBiS  ON  THE   MeNTAL    AtTITUDE   OP  THE 

Working  Force.    Leadership  and  Interest     ,        ,        SOS 
XIX. — ^The    Human    Factor    Block.       Cost  Elements  and 
Managerial  Proble&is  on  the  Mental  Attitude  of 
THE  Working  Force.   (Continued)   Satisfaction        .        328 

XX. — The  Human  Factors.  Cost  Elements  and  Manageiual 
Problems  on  the  Mental  Attitude  of  the  W^orking 
Force.    (Continued) 840 

XXI. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  Orders, 
Directions  and  Suggestions  as  Human  Factor 
Eleboqnts 888 

PART  VIII 

THE  DETAILED  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  TEAM  RELATIONS 
BLOCK  (COOPERATION) 

XXII. — Specific  and  Detailed  Responsibilities  on  Co-opera- 
tion         S8S 

XXIII. — Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems  on  Co- 
operation        801 

PART  IX 

XXIV. — An  Illustration  of  the  Application  op  the  Method 
OF  Analysis  to  a  Human  Factor  Managerial  Pbob- 
jMML    Carelessness  on  the  Job  ....       480 

PART  X 

THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 

XXV. — The  Instructing  Job 461 

XXVI. — Efficient  Instruction 468 

XXVII. — The  Instructing  Process 475 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


APPENDDC  A 
The  Use  of  Teeis  Material  in  Foremen's  Confebencbb. 

APPENDIX  B 


IX 

486 


XXVIII. — ^Thb  Instructor's  Tools 

XXIX. — ^Picking  Out  the  Best  Methods  and  Lines  of  Approach 

fob  a  Given  Instructing  Job 408 


509 


A  Classified  Lay-out  of  Some  Possible  Supebvisoby  Respon- 
sibilities in  a  Foreman's  Job.  b\1 


f-.f 


PART  I 

THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT 

This  book  does  not  undertake  to  tell  foremen  how  to  dis- 
charge their  duty ;  it  does  take  up  a  number  of  points  affect- 
ing the  foreman's  job  that  a  large  number  of  foremen  have 
thought  worth  careful  consideration  and  discussion  in  con- 
ferences. It  therefore  deals  with  three  of  the  most  im- 
portant factors  in  production,  supervision,  cost  control 
and  instruction. 

Since  a  foreman  has  to  do  all  three  of  these  this  book 
deals  with  the  foreman  and  his  job — the  foreman  because  so 
much  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  he  puts  over  his  job 
and  the  job  because  the  more  that  a  man  thinks  about  his 
responsibilities  and  how  best  to  discharge  them,  the  better 
work  he  will  do.  To  avoid  any  misunderstanding  at  the 
start  it  should  be  stated  here  that  this  book  does  not  deal 
in  any  way  with  the  methods  by  which  trade  processes  and 
operations  are  carried  on ;  that  is,  with  ways  of  doing  pro- 
duction jobs.  It  assumes  that  all  foremen  possess  the  neces- 
sary "job  knowledge"  as  to  the  different  jobs  under  their 
supervision.  In  matters  relating  to  the  foreman's  job  how- 
ever it  is  hoped  that  the  questions  raised,  the  suggestions 
made  and  the  conclusions  reached  in  a  large  number  of  fore- 
mens  conferences  may  be  of  value  to  other  foremen  in  assist- 
ing them  in  thinking  about  their  jobs  and  trying  to  find 
ways  and  means  to  put  those  jobs  across  in  the  best  way. 

The  Foreman's  Job. — As  far  back  as  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  history  of  the  human  race,  men  have  taken 
materials,  done  something  to  this  material  with  the  aid  of 
tools  or  some  sort  of  equipment,  and  so  have  turned  out  a 
product.  They  made  something  out  of  something.  How- 
ever crudely  this  was  done,  it  was,  in  fact,  just  as  much 


t 


4  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

manufacturing  as  the  production  work  carried  on  in  our 
modem  plants,  and  whenever  the  job  called  for  several 
people  to  work  together,  there  was  a  group  of  workers  all 
working  for  the  final  thing  that  was  to  come  out  of  the 
work  of  the  group.  That  is,  this  group  constituted  a  pro- 
duction team  just  as  much  as  the  operating  force  in  a  depart- 
ment in  a  modem  plant  makes  a  production  team. 

When  such  a  production  team  got  together  to  put  over  a 
job,  it  was  natural  to  select  some  one  man  as  the  "  leader," 
so  that  the  work  could  be  carried  on  to  better  advantage, 
because,  under  such  an  arrangement,  each  man  could  be  put 
on  the  part  of  the  "team  job"  that  he  could  do  best,  or  some 
one  man  could  do  the  planning  for  the  team,  or  all  members 
of  the  team  could  look  to  one  man  for  orders  or  directions. 
Possibly,  if  the  leaders  was  especially  skilled  on  the  different 
team  jobs,  he  could  also  show  team  members  who  were  not 
up  in  their  work  how  to  do  it  better,  or  could  teach  some  job 
to  some  green  member  of  the  team. 

This  group  leader,  even  in  those  days,  it  will  be  noted, 
had  to  plan,  direct  and  sometimes  instruct,  so  that  he  was, 
in  all  essentials,  the  foreman  of  that  team,  although,  of 
course,  he  did  not  go  by  that  name,  so  that  the  job  of  a 
foreman  is  as  old  as  the  human  race. 

Conditions  have  changed.  Where  in  those  days  only  a 
few  crude  tools  were  used,  now  we  have  complicated  machines ; 
we  have  delicate  processes ;  instead  of  small  groups,  we  have 
large  numbers  of  people  brought  together  in  manufacturing 
plants  or  other  business  concerns;  but  through  all  these 
changes  and  developments  the  foreman  has  kept  his  job. 
There  has  always  been  a  group  leader,  and  a  leader's  job; 
the  job  has  been  there  no  matter  what  particular  name  it 
was  known  by. 

The  Foreman. — ^Although  the  job  of  a  foreman  has 
always  existed,  the  name  "foreman"  is,  itself,  a  very  old 
one.  In  the  days  of  the  old  trade  guilds  in  Europe,  when 
groups  of  workers  wanted   a   representative  to  speak  for 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT  « 

them,  they  chose  one  of  the  number — ^usually  one  of  the  older 
or  better  workmen— to  "come  to  the  fore";  that  is,  to 
be  the  foreman.  In  descriptions  of  ceremonies  in  connection 
with  these  old  trade  guilds,  there  is  mention  of  the  different 
groups  of  workers,  "led  by  their  foremen,"  taking  part. 
Not  only  did  foremen  represent  different  working  groups,  but 
on  some  occasions  groups  of  foremen  got  together,  each  fore- 
man representing  his  own  group,  to  discuss  matters  on 
which  the  different  working  groups  had  interests  in  common, 
so   that   the   foremen's   conference   is   as   old   as  the  word 

foreman  itself. 

The  Foreman  in  the  Plant.— In  the  old  days  of  small 

shops,  where  the  employer  ran  the  "business  end"  and  the 
foreman  "ran  the  shop,"  when  matters  for  discussion  came 
up,  the  foreman  was  the  natural  representative  of  the  men ; 
he  often  "spoke  for  the  shop"  to  the  employer,  and  the 
employer  often  "spoke  for  the  business"  to  the  men  through 
the  foreman — ^that  is,  the  foreman  stood  between  the  "Man- 
agement" and  the  "Force." 

As  industry  has  grown  so  that  one  foreman  could  not 
handle  all  the  jobs,  instead  of  running  the  whole  shop,  he 
has  charge  of  a  part  of  the  shop ;  his  team  only  forms  a  part 
of  the  "big  team,"  so  that  in  a  plant  of  any  size  one  foreman 
has  charge  of  transportation,  another  of  maintenance,  others 
of  the  different  production  departments ;  but  in  spite  of  this 
"splitting  up"  the  foreman's  job  is  still  practically  the 
he  has  the  same  kind  of  responsibilities,  although  he 


same 


does  not  have  to  spread  himself  over  so  much  ground.  To 
the  management  he  still  represents  the  men ;  to  the  men  he 
still  represents  the  management ;  and  he  still  has  responsi- 
bilities both  ways,  and  all  foremen  recognize  this  double  re- 
sponsibility in  carrying  on  their  work. 

The  Term  "Foreman." — The  man  or  woman  holding  a 
position  carrying  the  sort  of  leadership  responsibilities 
described  in  the  last  paragraph — ^that  is,  a  foreman  or  fore- 
woman— is  known  by  different  titles  in  different  industries,  so, 


j<:| 


t 


i 


•  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

to  avoid  confusion,  so  far  as  this  book  is  concerned,  he  is 
always  referred  to  as  a  foreman.  The  term  "foreman^ 
therefore,  as  used  aU  through  the  book  should  be  understood 
to  mean  any  individual  man  or  woman  who  stands  newt  to  the 
working  force,  and  so  has  the  double  set  of  responsibilities 
described  above— to  the  men  on  the  one  hand  and  to  the 
management  on  the  other. 

"Superiors."— Of  course,  in  most  plants  there  are  other 
men  who  stand  between  the  foreman  and  the  management, 
and  who  have,  in  a  general  way,  the  same  sort  of  responsi- 
bilities, such  as  supervisors,  assistant  superintendents, 
superintendents  and  so  on. 

Such  individuals  wiU  be  referred  to  as  superiors,  and  who- 
ever comes  immediately  above  the  foreman,  as  the  term  wiU 
be  used,  will  be  referred  to  as  the  immediate  superior. 

The  Foreman  a  Manufacturer.— Within  the  limits  of  his 
job  any  foreman  is,  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word,  a  manu- 
facturer, because  he  is  responsible  for  taking  stock  (or  other 
things)  and  seeing  that  something  is  done  to  it,  so  that  it  is 
different  from  what  it  was  before,  and  doing  this  with  the 
aid    of   tools,    equipment    and    men.     The    fact    that    this 
changed  material  may  go  to  another  department  for  further 
work,  or  that  it  is  not  the  final  product  of  the  plant,  makes 
no  difference.    This  statement  would  even  hold  for  a  shipping 
department  or  a  maintenance  department,  because  when  a 
machine  is  repaired  it  is  changed  with  the  aid  of  equipment 
and  men ;  when  a  piece  of  stock  is  moved  it  has  been  changed 
as  to  Its  location ;  when  a  finished  product  has  been  boxed  up 
and  marked,  ready  for  shipment,  something  has  been  done 
to  it  with  the  aid  of  tools  and  men. 

In  order  to  get  out  his  product,  or  to  get  his  jobs  done, 
whatever  those  special  jobs  may  be,  a  foreman,  so  far  as  the 
doing  side  goes,  has  the  same  responsibilities  and  problems  as 
any  manufacturer.  He  must  deal  with  material,  operations 
and  processes,  tools  and  equipment,  and,  last  but  not  least, 
he  must  deal  with  men.    Within  the  limits  of  his  particular 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT  7 

job,  as  determined  by  the  special  organization  of  the  plant 
in  which  he  is  employed,  he  has,  in  a  sense,  the  problems  of  a 
general  manager — that  is,  he  has  delegated  to  him  that  part 
of  the  responsibilities  and  problems  of  the  management  that 
go  with  his  own  special  job. 

In  this  connection  a  foreman  is  in  a  particularly  im- 
portant position  on  the  team,  because  he  is  what  is  sometimes 
called  a  "key"  man.  The  idea  of  a  key  man  comes,  of 
course,  from  the  notion  of  the  keystone  of  an  arch.  If  the 
keystone  is  poor,  the  arch  will  eventually  fall.  A  key  man  is, 
therefore,  a  man  who,  on  account  of  his  position,  holds  the 
same  place  in  a  team  that  the  keystone  holds  in  an  arch,  and 
a  foreman  is  a  key  man  largely  on  account  of  the  fact  already 
pointed  out,  that  he  stands  between  the  management  and  the 
working  force  just  as  the  keystone  stands  between  the  two 
sides  of  the  arch.  A  key  man  can,  by  virtue  of  his  position, 
particularly  affect  the  success  or  failure  of  any  team  job  by 
his  attitude  toward  that  job;  he  can  do  more  than  anyone 
else  to  make  it  a  success  or  a  failure. 

The  Foreman  as  a  Key  Man  on  the  Team. — ^As  just 
stated,  the  foreman  is  a  "key  man"  because,  by  virtue  of  his 
position,  he  can  obstruct  or  assist  the  effectiveness  of  the 
work  in  many  ways  more  than  any  other  one  individual  in 
the  organization.  For  example,  it  is  desired  by  the  manage- 
ment to  promote  an  interest  in  safety  devices  and  their  use 
among  the  working  force.  The  foreman's  attitude  will  go 
far  towards  "making"  or  "breaking"  the  proposition.  He 
can  even  outwardly  "be  for  it,"  and  yet,  by  his  remarks 
made  to  the  men  (or  made  to  others  in  the  hearing  of  the 
men),  kill  the  proposition.  \ 

If  he  says  that  "it  is  all  foolishness,"  the  men  will  think 
that  it  is  all  foolishness.  If  he  thinks  that  it  is  a  good  thing, 
and  in  his  talk  "boosts"  the  proposition,  the  men  will  think 
as  he  does  and  boost  it,  too.  By  whole-hearted  cooperation 
with  other  departments,  say  the  service  department,  he  can 
help  that  work  along;  if  he  "knocks"  it,  he  can  almost  put 


•  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

it  out  of  business  so  far  as  his  men  are  concerned.  Many 
foremen  and  forewomen  have  much  more  influence  in  this 
respect  than  they  realize,  and  so  often  fail  to  help  things 
along  as  much  as  they  might,  not  so  much  because  they  intend 
to  block  things,  as  because  they  do  not  always  take  the  time 
and  trouble  in  the  pressure  of  their  work  to  fully  inform 
themselves  as  to  such  matters  and  do  not  realize  how  much 
their  attitude  towards  them  affects  the  attitude  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  working  force,  especially  where  it  is  a  matter  in 
which  their  cooperation  is  necessary  to  make  the  proposition 
a  success. 

The  Foreman  in  American  Industry. — Many  people 
believe  that  if  our  industries  are  to  compete  successfully  in 
the  future  with  foreign  manufacturers,  we  must  turn  more 
and  more  to  higher  grades  of  manufacturing,  while,  in  the 
past,  American  industries  have  been  largely  devoted  to  turn- 
ing out  partly  finished  products— steel,  lumber,  and  so  on- 
leaving  it  to  other  countries  to  take  our  product  and  work 
it  up  into  high-grade  articles. 

This  change  is  going  on  now,  and  more  and  more  we  are 
turning  out  higher-grade  products.     Less  steel  billets  and 
more  steel  ball-bearings;  less  baled  cotton  and  more  high- 
grade  cloth ;  less  hides  and  more  shoes  are  coming  out  of  our 
factories,  and  in  the  development  of  this  higher  and  higher 
grade  of  production  skill  the  foreman,  by  his  efficiency  and 
skill  on  his  leadership  job,  will  become  a  more  and  more 
important  "success  factor,"  and  any  man  who  has  a  fore- 
man's job  can,  with  truth,  feel  that  he  has  an  important  place 
on  the  "firing  line"  in  American  industries,  and  that  what- 
ever he  does  to  help  himself  to  do  a  better  foreman's  job  helps 
not  only  himself  and  the  particular  plant  in  which  he  happens 
to  be  located,  but  helps  the  whole  of  American  industry  as 
weU.    We  must  perfect  processes,  but  it  must  be  the  foreman 
who  sees  that  they  are  correctly  carried  out ;  we  must  have 
first-class  men  on  the  job,  but  it  is  the  foreman  who  must 
see  that  the  conditions  are  such  that  these  men  can  do  a  first- 


i 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  THE  PLANT 


9 


class  job.  We  must  invent  new  types  of  equipment,  but  the 
foreman  is  the  man  who  must  see  that  it  is  operated  effectively 
and  not  abused.  We  must  cut  down  turnover  and  save  the 
cost  of  continually  changing  our  force,  and  the  foreman  can 
do  more  than  any  other  one  man  to  bring  this  about.  For 
all  these  reasons  and  for  many  others  the  American  foreman 
in  the  American  plant  can  do  as  much,  if  not  more,  than 
anybody  else  to  enable  our  industries  to  make  good  under 
the  new  conditions. 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


U 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 

Preliminary. — ^The  last  chapter  dealt  with  the  foreman 
in  the  plant  and  pointed  out  some  of  the  responsibilities  and 
opportunities  that  go  with  his  job.  Like  anybody  else 
in  a  "team"  a  foreman  has,  in  his  particular  position,  cer- 
tain kinds  of  responsibilities  that  go  with  that  particular 
job,  and  this  chapter,  in  a  general  way,  deals  with  these 
responsibilities  and  with  what  has  to  be  done  to  discharge 
them  efficiently. 

What  is  a  "Job"? — ^As  used  in  this  book  the  word  joh, 
in  a  general  way,  means  anything  that  a  man  is  paid  to  do. 
In  this  sense,  everyone  connected  with  the  plant  has  a  "job," 
from  the  head  of  the  organization  down.  The  general  man- 
ager has  a  "job,"  the  office  help  have  *'jobs";  workmen  and 
helpers  have  "jobs";  foremen,  supervisors  and  tool-room 
attendants  have  "jobs,"  and  so  all  along  the  line. 

Work  Jobs,  Service  Jobs  and  Production  Jobs. — ^A  work 

job,  as  the  term  is  used  in  this  book,  is  any  job  that  is  car- 
ried on  by  a  member  of  the  working  force.  It  may  be  an 
operator's  job,  a  laborer's  job,  a  skilled  job.  In  any  plant 
however  there  are  many  work  jobs  that  do  not  deal  directly 
with  the  product,  such  as  maintenance  jobs,  and  other  jobs 
that  do  deal  directly  with  the  product. 

For  convenience  in  discussion  it  will  be  found  desirable 
to  distinguish  between  these  two  kinds  of  work  jobs  by  call- 
ing those  jobs  that  deal  directly  with  the  product,  that  get 
the  product  one  step  further  along  in  the  manufacturing 
process,  production  jobs,  and  to  call  all  other  kinds  of  jobs 
service  jobs.  Production  jobs  are  carried  on  to  get  the 
product;  if  the  production  job  fails,  the  product  is  not 

10 


obtained.     Service  jobs  make  the  product  come  out  easier, 
but  do  not  change  the  stock.     Examples  of  such  service 
jobs  would  be  transportation  jobs,  store-room  jobs,  main- 
tenance jobs,  crane  operating  jobs. 
We  have  therefore: 


Work  jobs 


Service  jobs. 
Production  jobs. 

The  Working  Force. — People  who  are  paid  to  carry  on 
work  jobs  may  be  called  workmen  or  members  of  the 
working  force  to  distinguish  them  from  people  who  are  paid 
to  discharge  other  kinds  of  responsibilities. 

Responsibility  Jobs  and  Work  Jobs. — In  general,  in  any 
concern,  there  are  two  kinds  of  jobs  which  may,  for  conveni- 
ence, be  called  responsibility  jobs  and  doing  jobs,  or  work 
jobs.  Doing  jobs,  or  work  jobs  (both  words  means  the  same 
thing),  are,  of  course,  jobs  carried  on  by  the  members  of  the 
operating  or  working  force.  As  described  in  some  detail 
later,  these  doing  jobs  are  made  up  of  operations,  and,  as  a 
result  of  these  operations,  the  stock  or  whatever  is  worked 
upon  is  changed  in  some  way  and  a  product  obtained. 

Responsibility  jobs,  however,  are  not  made  up  of  opera- 
tions, but  of  responsibilities.  Where,  in  laying  out  a  work 
job,  we  would  list  out  the  operations,  in  laying  out  a  respon- 
sibility job,  we  would  list  out  the  responsibilities.  By  re- 
sponsibilities we  mean  that  the  man  on  that  job  is  paid  to  see 
that  something  is  done — ^but  not  to  do  it  himself. 

The  Foreman's  Job  Not  a  Work  Job. — ^Like  every- 
one else  who  works  for  a  living,  the  foreman  has  a  job — that 
is,  he  is  paid  for  doing  something;  but  his  job  differs  from 
that  of  the  members  of  the  working  force  because  he  does  no 
direct  work  jobs  himself.  His  job  as  a  foreman  does 
not  require  that  he  touch  a  tool  or  operate  a  machine  himself, 
except,  as  pointed  out  later,  in  the  special  case  where  he  acts 
as  an  instructor. 

A  Foreman  Has  a  Responsibility  Job,  Not  a   Work 


i 


i'l|r 


It  THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

Jab.— From  the  preceding  statement  it  is  evident  that  a  fore- 
man has  a  responsibility  job,  not  a  work  job,  as  the  terms 
are  used  here.  He  is  paid  for  discharging  responsibilities 
and  for  the  skill  with  which  he  discharges  them  just  as  a 
man  on  a  work  job  is  paid  for  carrying  on  the  operations 
or  processes  that  go  with  his  job  in  a  workmanlike  manner. 
Wherever  the  word  job  is  used  in  connection  with  the  duties 
of  a  foreman  it  should  be  understood  that  it  refers  to  the 
discharge  of  some  sort  of  responsibility,  and  not  to  the 
carrying  on  of  a  work  job. 

The  Foreman's  Possible  Jobs.— A  foreman  may  have  any 
or  all  of  three  responsibility  jobs  as  follows : 

1.  He  may  be  responsible  for  seeing  that  work  jobs  are 
carried  on  correctly — that  is,  for  getting  the  product  of 
those  jobs  of  standard  or  required  quality.  To  put  it  in 
another  way,  he  may  be  responsible  for  "spotting"  any 
conditions  that  may  prevent  work  jobs  from  being  carried 
on  in  the  best  way  or  for  noting  the  fact  that  these  jobs  are 
being  carried  on  in  the  proper  way.  This  sort  of  responsi- 
bility will  be  called  supervisory  responsibility,  and  a  responsi- 
bility job  that  is  made  up  of  these  sort  of  responsibilities 
will  be  called  a  supervisory  job.* 

2.  He  may  be  responsible  for  discharging  his  supervisory 
responsibilities  in  such  a  way  that,  while  these  jobs  are  cor- 
rectly carried  out,  the  cost  will  be  made  as  low  as  possible. 
This  cost-reducing  responsibility  will  be  called  managerial 
responsibility,  and  any  job  that  is  made  up  of  cost-control 
responsibilities  will  be  called  a  managerial  job. 

8.  He  may  be  responsible  for  putting  over  to  others  job 
knowledge,  or  training  them  so  that  they  get  job  skill;  that 
is,  he  may  have  to  instruct.  This  sort  of  responsibility  will  be 
called  instructing  responsibility,   and   a  job  that  is  made 

.*u\P^  ^^^  supervisor  as  used  in  this  book  should  not  be  confused 
with  the  position  of  supervisor  as  it  is  sometimes  found  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  plants,  especially  in  chemical  plants.  As  the  term  is  used  here  a 
supervisor  would  be  a  superior,  with  regard  to  a  foreman 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


n 


up    of    these    sorts    of    responsibilities    will   be    called    an 
instructing  job. 

A  "bird's-eye  view"  of  the  foreman's  job 


The 
Job 


Supervision 


Management 


Instruction 


Knowing  his  supervisory  job 

Putting  over  his  supervisory  job 
Knowing  his  managerial  job 

Putting  over  his  managerial  job 
Knowing  his  instructing  job 


Putting  over  his  instructing  job 
Knowing  the  Job  and  "Putting  the  Job  Across."— If  a 
man  has  any  one  of  the  three  kinds  of  jobs  given  in  the  last 
paragraph,  he  has  to  be  able  to  do  two  things : 

1.  He  must  know  the  job;  that  is,  he  must  know  exactly 
what  his  responsibilities  are. 

2.  He  must  know  how  to  "put  the  job  across." 

If  he  does  not  know  what  his  job  is,  he  cannot  properly 
discharge  all  of  his  responsibilities,  because  he  does  not  know 
what  they  are.  If  he  knows  his  responsibilities,  but  ^*does  not 
know  what  to  do  with  them  after  he  has  got  them,"  he  is  just 
as  badly  off.  If  he  is  to  handle  any  responsibility  proposition 
effectively,  he  must  first  get,  in  some  way,  a  list  of  his  respon- 
sibilities, or  a  responsibility  lay-out,  and  then  he  must  have 
the  necessary  knowledge  and  the  ability  to  apply  that  knowl- 
edge so  that  the  job  will  be  put  across  properly. 

The  sort  of  knowledge  that  a  man  needs  to  enable  him  to 
put  a  responsibility  job  across  properly  will  be  called 
Auxiliary  Information. 

The  "bird's-eye  view"  of  the  foreman's  job  given  above 
indicates  the  possibilities,  and  the  three  possible  jobs  as 
shown  there  are  discussed  in  the  following  paragraphs. 


1 


14 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


.  .1 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


U 


Supervision  vs.  Management— It  is  sometimes  hard  to 
get  the  distinction  between  supervision  and  management 
because  in  practice  any  foreman  usually  carries  on  the  two 
sorts  of  jobs  together.  When  the  distinction  is  once  clear 
however,  it  is  easy  to  apply  in  any  given  case.  The  super- 
visor "  spots  "  things,  the  manager  does  something  about 
those  things.  Whenever  there  is  need  for  improvement,  for 
example,  a  foreman,  as  a  supervisor,  "spots"  the  fact  that 
a  certain  machine  is  wearing  out.  If  he  failed  to  do  this  he 
would  have  fallen  down  on  his  job  as  a  supervisor.  In  "spot- 
ting" the  condition  of  the  machine  he  has  discharged  his 
supervisory  duty.  But  having  done  this  he  still  has  the 
responsibility,  as  a  manager  for  not  allowing  that  condi- 
tion to  go  on,  but  for  doing  something  about  it.  If  he  gets 
the  machine  out  of  commission  in  such  a  way  that  his  produc- 
tion is  held  up  as  little  as  possible,  if  he  gets  out  his  work 
order  at  the  right  time,  so  that  the  machine  is  repaired  at 
just  the  right  stage  of  depreciation,  so  that  the  whole  job 
is  carried  out  at  the  least  cost,  he  has  done  a  good  managerial 
job.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  docs  not  do  these  things  at 
all,  or  if  he  does  them  in  such  a  way  that  the  cost  is  greater 
than  need  be,  he  has  done  a  poor  managerial  job. 

Again,  a  foreman  "spots"  the  fact  that  some  of  his  men 
are  getting  dissatisfied ;  he  does  this  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty  as  a  supervisor.  He  "  dopes  out  "  some  way  of  fixing 
up  this  situation  so  that  this  dissatisfaction  is  reduced  or 
cut  out  entirely.  He  does  this  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty 
as  a  manager. 

Again,  he  is  responsible  for  certain  stock  that  may  be 
damaged  by  water.  He  "  spots  "  the  fact  that,  as  it  is 
stored,  it  is  in  danger.  He  does  this  as  a  part  of  his-  super- 
visory job.  If  he  did  not  see  that  the  stock  was  in 
danger  he  would  have  fallen  down  as  a  supervisor.  He 
plans  out  a  way  to  save  that  stock  from  damage;  he  does 
this  as  a  manager. 


As  a  supervisor  a  foreman  therefore  sees  things;  he  is 
a  "see  man" ;  as  a  manager  he  is  a  planner.  As  a  supervisor 
he  is  an  "observer" ;  as  a  manager  he  plans  to  deal  with  the 
things  that  he  observes  so  that  cost  can  be  held  down  to 
a    minimum. 

Of  course,  in  carrying  on  his  supervisory  duties  a  man 
is  as  responsible  for  noting  conditions  that  are  right  as  for 
spotting  conditions  that  can  be  improved.  Where  super- 
vision showed  that  everything  was  exactly  right  there  would 
be,  of  course,  nothing  further  to  be  done  and  so  good  manage- 
ment would  be  to  do  nothing.  Management  for  improvement 
therefore  comes  in  only  where  supervision  shows  that  there 
is  a  chance  for  improvement. 

The  Supervisory  Job. — Supervision  means  "looking 
over,"  seeing  the  whole  thing  in  all  its  parts,  and  so  being  able 
to  keep  things  going  right,  so  that  the  job  can  be  done  at  all. 

For  example,  if  a  foreman  in  a  machine  shop  was  respon- 
sible, as  a  part  of  his  job  as  a  foreman,  for  the  quality  of  the 
steel  required  for  the  different  jobs,  and,  through  his  mis- 
take, the  wrong  kind  of  steel  was  used,  so  that  the  required 
product  could  not  be  obtained — that  is,  the  job  fell  down 
entirely — that  foreman  would  have  fallen  down  as  a  super- 
visor. Again,  if  in  a  machine  shop  a  foreman  were  respon- 
sible for  the  accuracy  of  the  products  of  different  operations, 
as,  for  example,  where  a  job  called  for  shaping,  milling, 
planing  and  grinding,  and,  through  his  failure  to  properly 
inspect,  the  products  of  these  operations  were  of  the  wrong 
size  and  had  to  be  junked,  he  would  have  failed  on  his  super- 
visory job.  Again,  if  a  foreman  were  responsible  for  the 
number  of  men  in  his  team,  and  he  failed  to  provide  men 
enough  to  keep  all  the  jobs  going,  he  would  have  failed 
as  a  supervisor. 

A  man  fails  as  a  supervisor,  therefore,  whenever,  through 
his  neglect  or  slip,  any  of  the  jobs  for  which  he  is  responsible 
fail  to  deliver  the  required  product ;  that  is,  where  those  jobs 
do  not  get  done  at  all,  not  of  necessity  because  somebody 


16 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


17 


did  not  do  something  to  some  sort  of  stock,  but  because, 
so  far  as  getting  the  required  result  is  concerned,  they  might 
just  as  well  have  done  nothing.  Whatever  was  done  was  a 
dead  loss. 

Putting  Over  the  Supervisory  Job. — ^If  the  foremen  in 
the  illustrations  given  above  fell  down  because  they  did  not 
know  that  they  were  responsible,  the  dead  loss  referred  to 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  did  not  know  their  jobs;  but 
if  they  knew  that  those  particular  responsibilities  belonged 
to  their  jobs  and  forgot  them,  or  did  not  think  of  the  matter 
in  time,  or  actually  did  not  know  enough  to  tell  that  the 
quality  of  the  steel  was  wrong,  or  that  the  machined  parts 
were  outside  of  the  accuracy  limits,  or  that  there  were  not 
men  enough  to  man  all  the  necessary  jobs,  then  they  fell 
down,  not  because  they  did  not  know  enough  about  their  jobs, 
but  because,  for  some  reason,  they  failed  to  put  their  jobs 
across  properly,  and  so  got  the  dead  loss  already  referred  to. 

The  Different  Kinds  of  Supervisory  Responsibilities. — 
While  it  is  true  that  all  supervisory  responsibilities  are  the 
same  in  the  sense  that  they  all  relate  to  getting  the  job  done 
it  is  also  true  that  these  supervisory  responsibilities  relate 
to  different  things,  and  so  vary  in  the  kind  of  supervision 
called  for.  In  a  general  way  these  different  kinds  of  responsi- 
bilities may  be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  Supervisory  responsibilities  on  stock.  Such  responsi- 
bilities might  include  the  duty  of  protecting  stock  from 
damage  or  loss,  seeing  that  the  necessary  amounts  were 
available  as  needed  to  keep  the  jobs  going,  seeing  that  the 
quality  was  right  and  so  on. 

2.  Supervisory  responsibilities  on  operations  and  proc- 
esses. Such  responsibilities  might  include  seeing  that  the 
product  was  according  to  specifications,  authorizing  the 
starting  or  stopping  of  an  operation,  or  seeing  that  the 
operations  used  were  the  proper  ones. 

3.  Supervisory  responsibilities  on  tools  and  equipment. 


These  might  include  the  prevention  of  breakdown  or  of 
damage  that  will  prevent  securing  the  required  product. 

4.  Supervisory  responsibilities  as  to  the  kind  and  num- 
ber of  workers  necessary  to  get  out  the  product.  These 
might  be,  for  example,  seeing  that  all  workers  had  sufficient 
knowledge  or  skill  to  properly  carry  on  their  jobs,  or  that 
there  were  enough  workers  to  keep  all  jobs  going. 

6.  Supervisory  responsibilities  on  the  handling  of 
information.  These  might  include  for  illustration,  the  fur- 
nishing of  certain  reports,  or  of  making  certain  records,  or 
of  giving  or  transmitting  orders  or  directions. 

6.  Supervisory  responsibilities  on  the  human  factors. 
These  might  include  such  responsibilities  as  seeing  that 
workers  are  interested  in  doing  a  good  job,  that  they  are 
satisfied  to  stay  with  the  plant  and  that  they  are  not  suffer- 
ing from  disease  or  illness. 

7.  Supervisory  responsibUities  as  to  instruction.  These 
might  include  seeing  that  all  green  men  are  instructed  in 
their  duties,  that  men  who  are  more  or  less  experienced  are 
given  pointers  on  jobs  that  are  a  little  different  from  these 
that  they  are  used  to  and  so  on. 

Possible  and  Actual  Supervisory  Responsibilities. — By 
combining  the  supervisory  responsibilities  of  foremen  in  a 
number  of  plants  that  have  different  organizations  it  is 
possible  to  get  what  may  be  called  a  lay-out  of  possible 
supervisory  responsibilities  from  which  a  foreman  in  a  given 
plant  can  pick  out  the  particular  responsibilities  that  go 
with  his  particular  job.  We  may  have  therefore  possible 
responsibilities  that  any  foreman  may  have  and  actual 
responsibilities  that  he  does  have  under  the  special  organiza- 
tion and  procedure  of  the  plant  in  which  he  is  employed.  A 
number  of  these  possible  responsibilities  are  suggested  in  the 
charts  given  in  Appendix  B. 


ii' 


18 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


19 


The  Managerial  Job. — As  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
while  supervision  deals  with  responsibilities  for  getting  the 
job  done  at  all,  management  deals  with  the  question  of  get- 
ting it  done  as  cheaply  as  possible,  provided  it  is  done  as  it 
should  be  done;  that  is,  as  the  term  is  used  in  this  book, 
management  has  for  its  purpose  getting  the  job  done  at 
minimum  cost,  A  supervisor  thinks  of  the  job,  a  manager 
thinks  of  the  cost  of  the  job.  For  example,  a  foreman  in  a 
pattern  shop  is  responsible  for  the  stock  on  which  the  men 
draw.  He  allows  this  stock  to  be  exposed  to  the  weather,  so 
that  some  of  it  gets  warped  or  checked,  so  that  it  cannot 
be  used.  Unless  it  was  all  spoiled,  and  he  could  not  get  any 
more  in  time  to  prevent  a  shut-down,  the  jobs  would  not  stop, 
but  the  cost  to  the  concern  would  have  been  run  up,  because 
that  part  of  the  stock  that  could  not  be  used  cost  money  and 
had  to  be  paid  for  whether  it  was  used  or  not.  This  failure 
to  properly  protect  the  stock  would  be,  as  the  terms  are  used 
here,  poor  management,  not  poor  supervision.  In  the  illus- 
tration as  to  men  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  if  there  were 
enough  men,  but  they  were  so  distributed  that  there  were  too 
many  men  on  some  jobs,  so  that  they  were  loafing,  and  not 
enough  men  on  others,  so  that  they  were  overworked,  such 
a  situation  would  be  due  to  poor  management,  because  the 
cost  of  getting  out  the  product  would  be  increased.  Again, 
in  the  case  of  the  machine  parts,  if  the  foreman  was  "lost" 
when  the  time  came  to  inspect  a  finished  intermediate  product 
before  it  could  go  on  to  the  next  operation,  and  the  workman 
had  to  stop  and  wait  for  the  foreman  to  turn  up,  that  would 
be  poor  management  on  the  foreman's  part,  because  "time  is 
money,"  and  the  cost  of  the  finished  product  would  be  in- 
increased,  although  the  job  would  have  been  done  and 
done  right. 

Management,  therefore,  means,  as  the  term  is  used  in 
this  book,  discharging  a  supervisory  responsibility  in  such 
a  way  that  cost  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  although  the  job 
is  stUl  properly  done. 


Putting  the  Managerial  Job  Across.— Just  as  in  the  case 
of  supervision,  a  foreman  may  slip  up  in  management,  either 
because  he  does  not  know  his  managerial  responsibilities  (or 
more  often  because  he  does  not  realize  them),  or  because  he 
does  not  put  his  managerial  job  across  as  well  as  he  might. 
For  example,  in  matters  relating  to  the  discharge  of  men, 
many  foremen  have  not  realized  that  every  time  that  a  man 
quits  for  any  cause,  there  must  be  a  replacement  cost  for  train- 
ing another  man  to  take  his  place  (unless  it  is  a  case  of  per- 
manently reducing  the  force),  and  that  that  replacement 
cost  goes  into  the  overhead,  and  so  have  not  handled  cases 
that  resulted  in  quitting  or  discharge  in  such  a  way  that  the 
cost  to  the  plant  was  kept  down  to  the  minimum.  Again, 
many  foremen  have  not  realized  the  cost-reducing  value  of 
legible  records  and  reports,  or  in  seeing  that  all  tools  and 
equipment  are  in  good  condition,  so  far  as  was  possible  within 
the  fields  of  their  responsibilities.  To  the  extent  to  which  any 
foreman  fails  to  discharge  his  managerial  responsibilities,  so 
as  to  get  the  best  results  as  to  cost  reduction  under  the  con- 
ditions under  which  he  has  to  work,  he  can  be  said  to  have 
fallen  down  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  putting  his  man- 
agerial job  across. 

One  Difference  Between  Supervision  and  Management. — 
It  must  be  evident  from  the  preceding  discussions  that  super- 
vision is  a  definite  thing — either  the  job  gets  done  or  else 
it  doesn't  get  done.  There  is  no  half-way  business  about  it, 
whereas  management  is  always  a  case  of  doing  the  best  that 
you  can.  Supervision  must  be  either  good  or  bad ;  manage- 
ment may  be  of  all  degrees  of  effectiveness.  In  management 
a  man  must  often  guess  at  how  to  put  the  job  across,  acting 
on  all  the  information  that  he  has  and  using  his  experience 
to  the  best  advantage.  In  supervision  he  practically  always 
knows  what  ought  to  be  done,  though  he  may  not  always  do  it. 
.  As  a  supervisor,  therefore,  a  foreman  is  concerned  with 
making  his  supervision  "100  per  cent" ;  as  a  manager  he  is 
concerned  with  making  his  management  as  good  as  he  can 


■^ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

make  it,  but  he  never  expects  to  discharge  all  his  managerial 
responsibilities  on  a  100  per  cent,  basis. 

"Czar  Reed,"  who  was  for  a  long  time  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  once  was  asked  what  made  a  good 
Speaker,  and  he  is  said  to  have  replied  that  a  good  presiding 
oflScer  was  one  who  made  51  per  cent,  of  his  decisions  cor- 
rectly. A  foreman  as  a  manager  can  do  better  than  that, 
but  there  is  no  need  of  feeling  discouraged  if  there  is  a  failure 
in  handling  all  managerial  problems  as  effectively  as  ther 
could  be  handled,  or  if,  in  looking  back,  he  can  see  where  ht 
**made  a  fluke"  on  some  managerial  case.  We  all  learn  from 
experience,  and  it  is  always  a  case  of  "better  luck  next  time." 

What  is  Meant  by  Cost  Elements. — The  word  cost  ele- 
ment as  used  here,  means  anything  that  will  cause  cost  to 
go  up  or  down,  according  to  the  way  it  is  managed,  or 
"  handled. "  For  example,  carrying  more  stock  than  is 
required  makes  cost  go  up,  because  it  ties  up  capital ;  carry- 
ing too  little  stock,  so  that  the  production  is  slowed  up 
because  some  machines  cannot  get  stock  to  work  on,  also 
makes  cost  go  up.  These  two  things  are  cost  elements  on 
stored  departmental  stock. 

Having  more  men  than  can  be  used  to  advantage,  or 
putting  high  priced  men  on  low  priced  jobs,  or  putting 
a  low  skilled  man  on  a  high  skilled  job,  increases  cost.  These 
things  are  cost  elements  on  men.  Again,  not  running 
machines  on  full  duty,  or  using  the  wrong  machine  for  a 
given  operation,  or  carrying  a  high  idle  load,  makes  for 
cost  increase;  they  are  cost  elemenits  on  equipment 
or  operations. 

It  should  be  understood  that  some  of  these  things  may 
happen  either  when  the  foreman  cannot  help  it,  or  when 
he  is  doing  the  best  he  can  under  the  circumstances,  but  never- 
theless, the  cost  is  affected  according  to  the  degree  to  which 
they  are  done,  and  if  they  are  done,  as  a  rule,  somebody't 
management  is  not  as  good  as  it  might  be. 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


tr 


The  Foreman's  Managerial  Problem^ — ^Managerial  prob- 
lems vary,  according  to  the  kind  of  jobs;  "managing"  a 
boat  would  mean  one  set  of  problems ;  "  managing  "  a  politi- 
cal campaign,  another  set,  but  in  production  work,  all 
managerial  problems  finally  head  up  into  cost,  because  it 
is  the  business  of  any  concern  not  only  to  turn  out  a  good 
product,  but  turn  out  that  product  at  minimum  cost. 

Sometimes,  it  is  hard  to  see  that  certain  things  do  actually 
affect  cost;  for  example,  it  is  only  recently  that  turnover 
has  been  regarded  seriously  as  a  cost  element,  or  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  buildings  as  to  light,  air,  etc.,  actually  affects 
cost  of  production,  but  it  is  becoming  recognized  generally, 
now,  that  they  do.  All  these  points  are  fully  discussed  in 
later  chapters  and  it  is  enough  to  point  out  here,  that  when 
a  foreman  studies  out  his  managerial  problems,  he  will  always 
find,  that  if  he  "  chases  them  down  to  the  end  "  they  all  relate 
to  cost,  though  sometimes,  he  has  to  do  some  "chasing," 
before  the  fact  is  clear. 

Supervisory  Responsibilities,  Managerial  Responsibili- 
ties, Cost  Elements  and  Managerial  Problems. — It  is  evi- 
dent that,  for  every  supervisory  responsibility,  if  cost  is  to 
be  considered,  there  is  a  corresponding  managerial  responsi- 
bility for  carrying  out  that  particular  kind  of  supervision  in 
such  a  way  that  cost  is  kept  as  low  as  possible  and  still  the 
job  is  done  right.  This  means  that  if  the  supervisory 
responsibilities  are  known,  the  corresponding  managerial 
responsibilities  are  also  known.  One  makes  the  other.  Mana- 
gerial responsibilities  in  turn  make  it  necessary  to  work  out 
ways  and  means  for  discharging  those  responsibilities  as 
effectively  as  possible,  that  is,  they  set  up  managerial  prob- 
lems in  each  case.  These  managerial  problems  can  only  be 
dealt  with  effectively  if  the  particular  cost  elements  that  affect 
cost  in  that  case  are  known  and  it  is  clear  as  to  just  how  they 
affect  cost,  and  unless  all  of  these  things  are  cleared  up 
the  results  will  not  be  satisfactory. 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

Of  course,  whether  the  same  man  has  to  deal  with  both 
supervisory  and  managerial  responsibilities  is  a  question  of 
organization  but,  under  any  ordinary  conditions,  somebody 
has  to  take  care  of  both,  so  the  statement  as  made  above 
applies  whether  both  arc  handled  by  the  same  man  or  by 
different  men,  or  whatever  the  particular  arrangement 
happens  to  be. 

"The  Managerial  Formula."— As  a  sort  of  summary 
of  the  statements  made  above  we  might  indicate  the  rela- 
tion of  supervisory  responsibilities,  managerial  responsi- 
bilities, cost  elements,  managerial  pK)blems,  and  ways  and 
means  as  follows : 

Whenever  the  discharge  of  a  supervisory  responsibility 
shows  that  anything  should  be  done  to  improve  things  this 
at  once  sets  up  a  managerial  responsibility  to  do  something 
to  improve  matters,  this  at  once  sets  up  a  managerial  prob- 
lem to  first  determine  the  cost  elements  and  then  to  work 
out  ways  and  means  for  reducing  the  effect  of  these  cost 
elements  to  a  minimum  or,  when  possible,  to  cut  them  out 
entirel}^  or,  as  a  sort  of  a  formula, 

Supervisory  responsibility  =  managerial  responsi- 
bility =  cost  elements  =  a  managerial  problem  = 
ways  and  means. 

The  Instructing  Job.— Under  most  conditions  a  foreman 
has,  in  addition  to  supervisory  and  managerial  responsibil- 
ities, some  sort  of  instructing  responsibilities,  though  quite 
often  he  does  not  think  of  himself  as  an  instructor.  For 
example,  he  may  have  to  give  special  instructions  to  workmen 
where  the  job  is  in  some  way  out  of  the  regular  run,  or  he  may 
have  the  responsibility  of  "breaking  in  green  help,"  or  of 
instructing  apprentices.  On  another  side,  he  may  feel  some 
responsibility  for  advising  men  who  wish  to  secure  additional 
training  as  to  how  they  can  get  it  the  best  and  the  cheapest. 
Where  he  has  any  responsibilities  of  this  sort,  they  are 
neither  managerial  nor  supervisory,  as  the  terms  are  used 
in  this  book,  but  are  teaching  or  instructional  responsibilities, 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


23 


and  whatever  these  instructing  responsibilities  are  they  make 
up  his  instructional  job. 

Most  foremen  feel  that  because  they  are  not  called 
"teachers"  and  do  not  teach  in  a  "school,"  that  they  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  teaching  game,  but  there  are  practi- 
cally no  foremen  who  are  not  doing  some  sort  of  instructing 
right  straight  along,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  an 
instructor,  or  teacher,  is  merely  somebody  who  has  the  job 
of  putting  over  what  he  knows  or  can  do  to  somebody  else 
who  does  not  know  or  who  cannot  do. 

Putting  Over  the  Instructing  Job.* — ^As  in  the  two  other 
cases,  a  foreman  needs  not  only  to  know  his  instructing  re- 
sponsibilities but  also  how  to  discharge  them  in  such  a  way 
that  the  instruction,  whatever  may  be  its  special  nature,  will 
be  carried  on  as  effectively  as  possible.  In  order  to  do  this, 
a  foreman  needs  to  be  able  to  know  some  of  the  "tricks  of  the 
teaching  trade" — ^that  is,  some  things  that  teachers  have 
learned  in  order  to  do  a  good  teaching  job.  The  extent  to 
which  a  foreman  who  has  any  instructing  responsibilities  will 
succeed  in  putting  across  his  instructing  job  effectively  will 
depend,  therefore,  on  the  amount  of  knowledge  that  he  pos- 
sesses of  the  "teaching  tools"  and  the  skill  with  which  he  can 
use  them  in  discharging  his  instructing  responsibilities. 

The  Foreman's  Department. — For  convenience,  when- 
ever reference  is  made  to  the  group  of  jobs  and  workmen  for 
which  a  foreman  is  responsible,  the  term  department  will  be 
used  in  just  the  same  sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  many  plants, 
even  though  the  particular  group  of  jobs  that  he  has  charge 
of  does  not  go  by  that  name  in  his  particular  case,  as  when 
the  term  "shop"  or  "shed"  or  "room"  is  used,  or  where  his 
department  is  named  from  its  special  product,  as  "alum  de- 
partment," "acid  department,"  etc.,  as  is  common  in  many 
chemical  plants,  or  by  operations,  as  "weave  room,"  "spin- 

*  For  a  complete  discussion  of  ways  and  means  for  putting  across 
the  instructing  job  anyone  especially  interested  is  referred  to  the  com- 
panion book  "The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The  Job." 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

ning  room"  in  many  textile  mills,  or  "sUp  room"  or  "clay 
house"  in  potteries.  Sometimes  the  foreman's  department,  as 
the  term  will  be  used,  is  called  a  "shop,"  as  "the  carpenter's 
shop,"  "the  boat  shop,"  "the  boiler  shop,"  and  so  on,  as  is 
common  in  navy  yards  and  in  railroad  shops. 

Just  as  the  term  foreman  is  used  in  this  book  to  cover  all 
the  different  names  by  which  a  foreman's  job  is  known  in 
different  lines,  so  the  term  department  will  be  used  to  cover 
the  group  of  materials,  operations,  tools  and  equipment  and 
men  that  make  up  his  team,  and  for  whom  he  is  responsible. 

How  Foremen's  Jobs  are  Alike.— At  first  thought,  any- 
one would  think  that  two  foremen  having  in  their  departments 
entirely  different  work  jobs,  different  kinds  of  equipment  and 
different  operations  and  processes  would  have  totally  differ- 
ent supervisory,  managerial  and  instructing  jobs.  In  view  of 
the  statements  made  in  this  chapter,  a  little  consideration  will 
show,  however,  that  these  responsibilities  are  practically  the 
same,  regardless  of  the  particular  sort  of  work  carried  on  in 
the  foreman's  department.  It  follows  from  this  fact  that 
foremen  from  different  departments  can  get  together  and 
discuss  their  supervisory,  managerial  and  instructional  prob- 
lems and  '*pool  experiences"  in  working  out  ways  and  means 
for  handling  their  jobs  to  better  advantage.  Since  this  is 
sometimes  a  somewhat  difficult  point  to  see,  the  following 
illustrations  may  be  of  help : 

Why  all  Foremen's  Jobs  are  Alike.— The  statement  that 
"all  foremen's  jobs  are  alike"  means  that  while  the  different 
work  jobs  in  different  departments  are  different  and  the  job 
knowledge  required  in  order  to  know  whether  or  not  these 
work  jobs  are  being  done  right  will,  of  course,  be  different  for 
each  department,  so  that  from  the  standpoint  of  job  knowl- 
edge each  foreman  must  have  a  different  "brand,"  they  all 
have  some  kind  of  supervisory  responsibilities,  some  kind  of 
managerial  responsibilities  and  generally  some  kind  of  in- 
structing responsibilities. 

In  many  cases,  at  least,  the  ways  and  means  for  lining  up 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


%5 


the  responsibility  job,  or  the  managerial  job,  are  the  same, 
and  the  problems  as  to  how  to  put  managerial  or  supervisory 
jobs  across  effectively  are  quite  independent  of  the  nature  of 
the  special  work  jobs  in  this  foreman's  department  or  in  that 
foreman's  department.  For  example,  if  there  is  a  managerial 
problem  on  how  to  deal  with  absenteeism,  it  makes  little  or 
no  difference  what  particular  job  the  man  was  absent  from. 
This  would  be  equally  true  for  a  supervisory  responsibility 
on  the  quality  of  product — ^if  a  number  of  foremen  all  had 
that  particular  kind  of  responsibility,  the  way  in  which  that 
responsibility  could  be  effectively  discharged  would  have  very 
little  to  do  with  the  particular  tests  that  would  be  used  in 
inspecting.    This  would  be  also  true  of  instructing. 

If  a  number  of  foremen  all  had  instructing  responsibil- 
ities, the  teaching  "tricks"  that  they  would  need  to  use  would 
be  the  same,  whatever  the  particular  jobs  that  they  wanted 
to  teach. 

In  a  general  way  it  is,  therefore,  true  that  any  group  of 
people  who  have  supervisory  responsibilities,  or  managerial 
responsibilities,  or  instructing  responsibilities,  have  the  same 
sort  of  jobs,  although  the  particular  work  jobs  that  they 
have  under  their  charge  may  be  entirely  different. 

How  Foremen's  Jobs  do  Differ. — ^Although,  as  just 
stated,  all  foremen  have,  in  general,  the  same  kind  of  jobs,  it 
is  also  true  that  foremen  in  different  plants  and  even  some- 
times foremen  in  different  departments  in  the  same  plant  do 
not  have  the  same  number  of  responsibilities,  nor  are  the 
responsibilities  that  they  have  all  of  the  same  kind,  because 
of  the  different  ways  in  which  different  plants  are  organized. 
It  is  even  true  that  in  some  cases  all  the  supervising  respon- 
sibilities go  to  one  man,  all  the  managerial  to  another  and 
quite  often  a  large  number  of  the  instructing  responsibilities 
are  turned  over  to  a  special  training  department. 

In  general,  however,  all  the  foremen  in  a  given  plant  will 
have  about  the  same  responsibilities ;  that  is,  they  have  about 
the  same  supervising,  managerial  and  instructing  jobs,  but 


I  fir 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

their  range  of  responsibilities  might  be  considerably  different 
from  those  belonging  to  the  foreman  from  another  plant.  On 
this  account,  foremen  from  one  plant  can  "get  together" 
closer  in  discussing  their  foreman's  jobs  than  can  foremen 
from  plants  where  the  organization  is  very  different  in  the 
different  plants. 

The  way  in  which  responsibilities  may  be  discharged,  or 
the  procedure,  very  often  varies  in  different  plants.  For 
example,  in  some  plants  a  foreman  may,  according  to  the 
procedure  in  that  plant,  hire  men  directly — "at  the  gate." 
In  other  plants,  according  to  the  procedure,  he  may  draw  a 
requisition  on  an  Employment  Department.  As  in  the  case 
of  responsibilities,  the  procedure  is  likely  to  be  the  same  in 
the  same  plant  for  all  foremen. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

PARTI 

1.  What  is  the  essential  difference  between  a  workman's 
job  and  a  foreman's  job? 

2.  A  foreman  directs  a  man  to  load  up  a  truck  with 
cans  of  paint  and  take  the  load  to  a  certain  address.  Does 
he  do  this  as  a  supervisor  or  as  a  manager? 

3.  Would  a  foreman  put  in  a  requisition  for  more  raw 
materials  as  a  supervisor  or  as  a  manager?  How  would  it 
be  if  he  timed  his  requisition  so  that  it  would  be  filled  before 
he  ran  out  of  material? 

4.  If  a  foreman  failed  to  secure  a  product  of  the  right 
quality  could  he  be  criticised  as  a  supervisor  or  as  a 
manager?     Why? 

5.  A  man  loads  a  truck  in  such  a  poor  way  so  that  a 
part  of  the  load  falls  off  and  is  damaged.  The  foreman  gets 
him  transferred  to  another  job.  Does  he  do  this  as  a  super- 
visor or  as  a  manager?    Why? 

6.  A  department  is  running  on  sixty  per  cent,  capacity 
and  all  equipment  units  are  running  on  less  than  full 
capacity.   The   foreman   cuts    out   certain  units   and   gets 


THE  FOREMAN'S  JOBS 


27 


the  same  output  on  the  remaining  units  at  full  capacity. 
Did  he  do  this  as  a  supervisor  or  as  a  manager?     Why? 

7.  A  foreman  notices  that  a  man  seems  to  be  falling 
off  in  his  work.  He  has  always  been  a  good  man  up  to 
this  time.  In  noting  this  is  tlic  foreman  acting  as  a  super- 
visor or  as  a  manager? 

8.  In  the  case  just  given  the  foreman  takes  pains  to 
find  out  what  the  matter  is  and  sees  that  the  man  being  ill 
goes  to  the  doctor.  Does  he  do  this  as  a  supervisor  or 
as  a  manager?    Why? 

9.  A  foreman  tells  a  competent  man  to  do  a  certain 
job.    Is  he  instructing  the  man?    Why? 

10.  He  finds  that  the  man  is  not  familiar  with  certain 
parts  of  the  job  and  "wises  him  up."  Is  he  instructing  the 
man  in  this  case?     Why? 

11.  A  foreman  finds  that  one  of  his  men  is  doing  poor 
work  because  he  is  sleepy.  Does  he  note  this  fact  as  a 
supervisor  or  as  a  manager?    Why? 

12.  In  the  case  just  given  the  foreman  looks  into  the 
matter  and  finds  out  that  the  man  is  doing  a  lot  of 
outside  work.  Does  he  do  this  as  a  supervisor  or  as 
a  manager?     Why. 

13.  He  talks  with  the  man  and  gets  him  to  give  up  the 
outside  work.  Does  he  do  this  as  a  supervisor  or  as  a 
manager?    Why? 

14.  A  foreman  finds  that  owing  to  his  being  a  poor 
writer  a  number  of  his  orders  are  not  read  correctly  and  so 
he  takes  to  using  a  typewriter.  Does  he  do  this  as  a  super- 
visor or  as  a  manager?    Why? 


PAET  n 

THE    DEPARTMENTAL    AND    THE    WORK 

JOB  ANALYSIS 


PART  n 

THE    DEPARTMENTAL    AND    THE    WORK 

JOB  ANALYSIS 


• 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    DEPARTMENTAL    AND    THE    WORK    JOB 

ANALYSIS 

SECTION  I.  THE  METHOD  OF  ANALYSIS 

Preliminary. — The  general  method  of  analysis  is  of  such 
great  service  to  all  persons  who  are  charged  with  supervisory, 
managerial  or  instructing  responsibilities,  and  the  use  of  the 
analysis  method  is  of  such  great  value  in  dealing  with  super- 
visory and  managerial  problems,  that  every  foreman  should 
understand  it  and  get  in  the  habit  of  using  it  in  his  work.  In 
general,  the  method  of  analysis  stands  against  the  "guess 
method"  to  which  reference  is  made  in  a  number  of  places  in 
this  book,  because  it  substitutes  exact  knowledge  for  guess- 
ing, and  gives  a  base  on  which  action  can  be  taken  with  a 
much  greater  certainty,  that  it  is  the  best  action  that  can  be 
taken  under  the  circumstances.  The  following  chapters, 
therefore,  take  up  the  method  of  analysis  as  applied  to  those 
sort  of  jobs  with  which  a  foreman  has  to  deal,  this  chapter 
dealing  with  the  departmental  and  the  work  job  analysis, 
other  chapters  taking  up  the  analyses  of  managerial  and 
supervisory  jobs. 

What  is  an  Analysis? — ^An  analysis  simply  means  deter- 
mining what  anything  is  made  of.  When  a  chemist  makes  an 
analysis  of  a  substance,  he  merely  finds  out  what  is  in  it  by 
the  use  of  the  diiferent  tests  which  he  knows  how  to  use ;  in 
the  same  way  the  principle  of  analysis  can  be  used  in  finding 
out  what  other  things  besides  substances  are  made  of.  For 
example,  the  analysis  of  a  trade  is  made  by  "taking  account 
of  stock"  as  to  what  a  person  must  be  able  to  do  and  what 
he  must  know  to  be  a  first-class  man  at  that  trade.  Of  course, 
nobody  can  furnish  this  information  except   a  first-class 

81 


B' 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


workman  at  that  trade,  and  an  analysis  adds  nothing  to 
what  such  a  man  knows — it  merely  lists  it  out.  If  the  trade 
were  that  of  a  carpenter,  the  person  making  the  analysis, 
who  is  usually  the  carpenter  himself,  but  who  may  be  some- 
body else  sitting  in  with  the  carpenter,  notes  down  all  the 
jobs  that  a  carpenter  has  to  know  how  to  do.  If  it  were 
plumbing,  or  book-binding,  or  machine-shop  work,  the  same 
listing  of  jobs  would  be  carried  out.  If,  in  addition  to  the 
jobs  themselves,  there  were  certain  trade  terms  that  he  must 
know,  or  names  of  operations  of  which  nobody  would  know  the 
meaning  except  a  man  in  the  trade,  or  special  methods  of 
figuring  out  that  belonged  to  the  trade  in  question,  or  any 
other  special  auxiliary  information,  these  would  also  be  listed. 
In  the  same  way  any  job  can  be  analyzed — for  example,  the 
job  of  lighting  a  safety  match  on  the  box,  or  opening  a  door, 
or  making  a  batch  of  biscuits  or  setting  a  stick  of  t3rpe.  Again, 
a  managerial  problem  can  be  analyzed  into  its  cost  elements, 
or  a  department  analyzed  for  the  different  work  jobs  that 
it  carries  on. 

The  Classified  Analysis. — ^A  properly  made  analysis  gives 
us  all  that  goes  with  the  "job"  (trade,  problem,  work  job, 
responsibility  job,  etc.),  but,  if  the  information  is  of  more 
than  one  kind,  the  different  kinds  would  be  all  mixed  up  if  we 
stopped  there,  so,  in  most  analyses  it  is  necessary  to  list  out 
these  different  kinds  of  information  under  classification  head-, 
ings  and  so  get  a  classified  analysis. 

What  is  a  Classified  Analysis? — ^As  just  stated,  a  classi- 
fied analysis  is  simply  a  list  where  the  contents  of  that  list 
are  arranged  under  some  sort  of  headings.  For  instance, 
suppose  it  was  desired  to  make  a  list  of  the  jobs  in  the 
plumbers'  trade  and  these  jobs  were  listed  as  soil-pipe  jobs, 
terra-cotta  jobs,  flexible-pipe  jobs,  rigid-pipe  jobs,  installing 
jobs,  and  so  on,  we  would  have  a  classified  analysis  of  that 
trade  so  far  as  jobs  go.  In  the  same  way,  responsibility  jobs 
can  be  classified  as  supervisory  responsibility  jobs,  man- 
agerial responsibility  jobs  and  instructional  jobs,  supervi- 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      SS 

sion,  management  and  instruction  being,  in  this  case,  the 
classification  headings  used.  Of  course,  different  classifica- 
tion headings  can  be  used  according  to  the  special  sort  of  an 
analysis  that  is  required. 

What  are  Classification  Headings?— Classification  head- 
ings are,  therefore,  merely  the  labels  or  "pigeon  holes"  that 
we  use  in  making  a  classified  analysis,  and  they  serve  the  same 
purpose  as  the  different  bins  or  sacks  into  which  a  mail  clerk 
throws  letters  for  different  places. 

The  Necessity  for  Making  an  Analysis  Complete.— Like 
any  other  "half-baked"  job  an  incomplete  analysis  is  worse 
than  none  at  all,  because  you  think  that  you  have  got  some- 
thing that  you  can  depend  on  when  you  can't ;  hence,  when 
any  analysis  is  made,  it  is  very  necessary  that  it  should  "tell 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,"  and 
this  is  often  a  very  difficult  thing  to  do,  especially  if  the  per- 
son who  makes  the  analysis  knows  the  thing  to  be  analyzed 
thoroughly.  For  example,  the  better  a  man  is  on  his  job,  or 
at  his  trade,  the  more  trouble  he  will  have  in  making  a  com- 
plete analysis. 

The  Difficulties  in  Making  a  Complete  Analysis.— The 
fact  that  "the  more  a  man  knows  about  his  job  the  harder 
it  is  for  him  to  make  a  complete  analysis"  seems  very  strange 
until  it  is  explained,  but  the  reason  is  very  simple.    It  is  one 
thing  to  know  and  quite  another  thing  to  "know  what  you 
know."    A  man  who  has  learned  how  to  do  things  by  doing 
them,  as  a  rule,  "just  goes  ahead  and  does  them"  without 
thinking  much  about  how  he  does  them  or  just  what  he  does. 
He  is  not  in  the  habit  of  "taking  stock"  of  his  job  or  of  any- 
body else's  job.    On  the  job  he  uses  his  knowledge  and  skiU 
so  unconsciously  that  he  hardly  gives  a  thought  as  to  how 
he  does  it  or  why  he  does  it  that  way.    He  works,  so  to  speak, 
automatically,  and  the  more  experience  he  has  had  on  the  job 
the   more    automatically    he   works    and    the    more   he    is 
|*stumped"  when  he  tries  to  analyze  out  what  he  does.    This 

18  true  of  everybody :  in  proportion  as  we  have  got  so  that 

8 


34 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


wc  do  a  job  unconsciously  we  can't  tell  ofF-hand  how  we  do  it. 
How  do  you  tic  a  four-in-hand  tie?  How  do  you  put  on  your 
collar?  Just  what  do  you  do  when  you  start  an  automobile? 
What  do  you  do  when  you  take  a  pocket-knife  and  sharpen 
a  pencil?  Questions  like  these  "sprung"  on  anybody  will 
"phase"  them  for  a  moment  and  sometimes  stick  them  en- 
tirely. The  fact  that  a  man  has  trouble  in  making  an 
analysis  of  his  job  does  not  mean  that  he  does  not  know  the 
job,  but  only  means  that,  on  the  job,  he  has  been  thinking 
of  getting  it  done  and  not  about  what  he  did  to  get  it  done. 
A  green  man  who  has  done  a  new  job  for  the  first  time  has 
thought  about  what  he  did ;  an  experienced  man  has  thought 
about  getting  his  job  done. 

The  fact  that  most  men  have  trouble  in  making  analyses 
at  the  start  simply  means  that  they  have  to  learn  to  look  at 
the  job  from  a  new  angle.  They  must,  so  to  speak,  "take  the 
job  out  of  themselves,"  and  stand  off  and  look  at  it,  and  this 
takes  practice.  While  the  "analysis  habit"  is  sometimes  hard 
to  get,  and  it  takes  time  and  patience  to  get  it,  when  a  man 
has  once  got  it,  he  will  find  that  it  is  a  "life-saver"  in  many 
ways,  a  number  of  which  are  suggested  in  different  parts 
of  this  book. 

SECTION   II.    THE    DEPARTMENTAL   ANALYSIS 

Preliminary. — The  object  of  a  departmental  analysis  is  to 
get  a  classified  list  of  all  work  jobs  in  a  foreman's  department. 
Since,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  product  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  plant,  one  department  may  turn  out  only  one 
product  or  more  than  one,  we  must  first  get  the  departmental 
production  job,  or  jobs,  then  find  out  what  payroll  jobs  go 
with  each  departmental  production  job  and,  if  one  payroll 
job  covers  more  than  one  work  job,  we  must  find  the  work 
jobs  in  the  payroll  jobs. 

This  relation  of  departmental  production  jobs,  payroll 
jobs  and  work  jobs  is  indicated  in  the  chart  on  page  4<0.  The 
making  a  departmental  analysis  are,  therefore,  as  given  in 
the  following  paragraph. 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      35 

Steps  in  the  Departmental  Analysis.— The  departmental 
analysis  is  carried  out  according  to  the  following  steps  : 

First,  If  the  department  handles  more  than  one  product, 
the  entire  work  of  the  department  is  divided  into  de- 
partmental products,  giving  the  analysis  for  depart- 
mental production  jobs. 

Second,  A  list  is  made  of  all  the  payroll  jobs  that  are 
carried  on  in  the  department  in  order  to  get  each  depart- 
mental production  job,  giving  the  payroll  job  analysis. 

Third.  Wherever  a  payroll  job  consists  of  more  than  one 
work  job,  a  list  is  made  of  these  work  jobs  under  each  payroll 
job,  giving  the  work  job  analysis. 

The  classification  headings  here  are: 

( 1 )  Departmental  production  j  obs. 

(2)  Payroll  jobs. 

(3)  Work  jobs. 

Departmental  Production  Jobs. — ^Every  department  in  a 
plant  is  operated  to  get  one  or  more  distinct  products ;  that 
is,  it  has  one  or  more  distinct  departmental  production  jobs. 
Therefore,  a  departmental  production  job  may  be  defined  as 
the  job  of  getting  out  one  distinct  departmental  product,  as 
distinguished  from  other  products  that  may  be  turned  out  in 
the  same  department.  For  example,  a  machine-shop  depart- 
ment might  turn  out  only  one  departmental  product,  say 
gears,  or  one  type  of  sensitive  drills  or  gas  engines,  or  one 
type  of  automobile  bodies,  in  which  case,  the  department 
would  have  only  one  departmental  production  job,  because 
all  the  work  jobs  in  that  department  were  carried  on  for  the 
purpose  of  turning  out  one  kind  of  product.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  a  department  were  turning  out  six  distinct  types  of 
automobile  bodies,  each  type  requiring  a  different  kind  of 
work  job,  or  if  it  were  turning  out  gears,  connecting  rods, 
pistons  and  crank-shafts,  or  2-,  6-,  8-  and  12-H.P.  gas 
engines,  then  there  would  be  six  departmental  production  jobs 
in  the  first  case  and  four  in  the  second  and  third,  since,  for 


Si  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

example,  making  crank-shafts  calls  for  totally  different  work 
jobs  from  making  gears,  and  making  pistons  calls  for  still 
another  set  of  work  jobs  as  compared  with  those  required  to 
make  either  of  the  other  departmental  products. 

For  another  example,  an  acid  department  in  a  chemical 
plant  may  turn  out  only  sulphuric  acid,  in  which  case  it 
has  only  one  departmental  product  and  so  only  one  depart- 
mental production  job,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  might  turn 
out  sulphuric  acid,  nitric  acid,  muriatic  acid  and  acetic 
acid,  in  which  case  there  would  be  four  distinct  departmental 
products  and  so  four  departmental  production  jobs. 

In  the  case  of  a  job  shop,  of  course,  each  special  order 
for  a  complete  job  would  be  a  departmental  production  job. 

Therefore,  it  is  evident  that,  according  to  the  character 
of  the  product  and  the  degree  of  specialization,  a  foreman 
may  have  from  one  to  a  large  number  of  departmental  pro- 
duction jobs,  and  some  of  the  more  probable  cases  are  dis- 
cussed in  the  following  paragraphs : 

Conditions  Affecting  the  Number  of  Departmental  Pro- 
duction Jobs. — ^According  to  the  conditions,  departmental 
production  jobs  are  determined  in  different  ways,  but  in  gen- 
eral we  have  one  of  the  following  situations : 

There  is  only  one  departmental  production  job.  This 
situation  is  generally  true  in  cases  of  continuous  produc- 
tion, as  in  a  department  in  a  cotton  mill.  Usually  a  weaving 
department  turns  out  cloth,  a  spinning  department  yarn, 
and  so  on.  This  would  be  true  in  a  platemill,  or  in  different 
departments  in  a  pottery,  or  in  most  cases  in  an  assembling 
department.  It  should  be  noted  here  that  the  amoti/nt  of 
product  does  not  affect  the  number  of  departmental  jobs,  nor 
the  different  grades  of  product  so  long  as  the  kind  of 
product  remains  the  same. 

There  are  several  different  kinds  of  departmental 
production  jobs.  For  example,  suppose  a  weave  room  were 
turning  out  twelve  kinds  of  cloth  (varying  pattern,  quality, 
grade,  etc.) ;  this  department  would  have  twelve  depart- 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      37 

mental  production  jobs,  regardless  of  the  quantity  turned 
out  from  day  to  day.  In  the  same  way,  a  department  in  a 
paint  factory  might  turn  out  red  lead,  white  lead  by  the 
Carter  process,  white  lead  by  the  Dutch  process,  and  in  this 
case  would  have  three  departmental  jobs.  That  is,  we  get 
a  different  departmental  production  job: 

(1)  If  the  product  is  different. 

(2)  If  the  product  is  the  same,  but  is  turned  out  by  a 
different  process,  or  a  different  set  of  work  jobs. 

Departmental  Production — ^Varying  Jobs. — ^This  condi- 
tion would  come  up  in  a  job  or  repair  shop,  and  would  go 
with  what  may  be  called  Elastic  Equipment.  Such  a 
condition  would  occur  in  an  automobile  repair  shop  or 
in  a  job  machine  shop.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is 
evident  that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  standard  depart- 
mental production  jobs,  and  they  cannot  be  listed  because 
there  are  none;  but  payroll  jobs  and  work  jobs  that  can  be 
done  can  be  listed  in  general  terms;  that  is,  a  list  can  be  made 
of  the  sort  of  jobs  that  the  department  is  prepared  to  do 
under  some  sort  of  classified  headings  as  discussed  in  the 
paragraph  on  work  jobs.  Under  the  conditions  that  exist  in 
a  job  shop,  it  is  evident  that  no  list  of  departmental  produc- 
tion jobs  can  be  made,  and  under  such  circumstances  this  step 
can  be  omitted  in  making  the  departmental  analysis. 

Payroll  Jobs.— The  term  "payroll  job,"  as  used  here, 
means  simply  the  name  by  which  any  worker  is  carried  on  the 
payroll.  Examples  of  payroll  jobs  might  be,  in  a  cotton  mill, 
loom  fixer,  bale-breaker  tender,  spinner,  helper,  etc.  In  a 
pottery,  payroll  jobs  might  be  jigger  man,  modeler,  slip 
mixer.  In  an  electrical  power  house,  water  tender,  fireman, 
switchboard  attendant,  oiler.  In  a  machine  shop,  payroll 
jobs  might  be  lathe  hand,  tool  maker,  grinder  hand,  tool- 
room boy,  and  so  on. 

Of  course,  the  special  names  of  payroll  jobs  will  vary 
with  the  particular  plant,  but  for  any  plant  there  are  names 


SB 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


covering  all  that  each  man  is  paid  to  do  that  are  carried  on 
the  payroll,  and  so,  of  course,  are  readily  obtainable. 

Of  course,  where  a  man  follows  a  skilled  trade,  the  payroll 
job  is  the  name  of  his  trade,  as  pattern  maker,  carpenter, 
pressman,  plumber,  etc.,  and  where  a  worker  is  employed  only 
on  one  specialized  job,  the  payroll  job  is  often  the  name  of  his 
work  job,  as  discussed  in  the  next  paragraph. 

Work  Jobs. — ^As  the  term  is  used  here,  a  work  job  means 
any  one  distinct  job  that  a  man  is  paid  to  do.  For  example, 
in  getting  out  a  sensitive  drill,  some  of  the  work  jobs  might  be 
planing  bases,  turning  columns,  cutting  gear  racks,  as- 
sembling, etc. 

Any  payroll  job  may,  or  may  not,  consist  of  more  than 
one  work  job,  as  discussed  in  the  following  paragraph. 

Work  Jobs  and  Payroll  Jobs. — In  many  cases  a  worker 
employed  for  a  given  payroll  job  actually  does  a  number  of 
work  jobs.  For  example,  a  tool  maker  (the  payroll  job) 
does  a  distinct  production  job,  or  work  job,  for  eV^ery  tool  or 
jig  or  fixture  that  he  gets  out.  In  considering  the  matter 
of  work  jobs  in  payroll  jobs,  it  is  possible  to  strike  any  one 
of  the  following : 

(1)  The  payroll  job  is  the  same  as  the  work  job. 

(2)  The  payroll  job  covers  two  or  more  definite 
work  jobs. 

(3)  The  payroll  job  covers  any  number  of  work  jobs. 
Case  one  would  be  illustrated  by  a  weaver  in  a  plain-goods 

cotton  mill.  He  is  carried  on  the  payroll  as  a  weaver,  and  he 
has  just  one  job — weaving  on  a  plain  loom. 

Case  two  would  be  illustrated  by  a  decorator  in  a  pottery, 
who,  under  that  name  on  the  payroll,  might  stripe,  put  on 
decals  and  stipple,  or  by  a  meter-clock  assembler,  who  as- 
sembles several  different  kinds  of  meter  clocks,  each  kind  being 
a  different  work  job. 

Case  three  would  be  true  for  any  skilled  trade,  as,  for 
example,  machinist,  carpenter,  plumber,  etc.,  who  are  carried 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      39 

on  the  payroll  by  the  name  of  the  trade,  and  who  may  have 
any  work  job  that  belongs  in  that  trade. 

Analyzing  the  Payroll  Jobs  into  Work  Jobs.— Evidently 
for  case  one  no  analysis  is  necessary,  since  the  payroll  job 
is  the  same  as  the  work  job,  and,  in  such  cases,  this  step 
is  not  required,  and  the  payroll  job  can  be  analyzed  into 
operations  and  operating  points,  as  described  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

For  case  two  all  the  work  jobs  tliat  belong  in  that  payroll 
job  should  be  listed  out. 

Case  three  puts  up  a  very  long  and  difficult  problem 
because  the  pay  roll  jobs  cover  all  possible  jobs  in  that 
trade,  calling  for  what  is  called  a  complete  trade  analysis. 
However,  fortunately  for  any  purposes  for  which  the  use 
of  the  job  analysis  is  suggested  for  the  use  of  a  foreman, 
such  a  complete  trade  analysis  is  practically  unnecessary, 
though,  it  is  necessary  for  a  trade  instructor.  * 

For  any  suggested  uses  of  the  job  analysis  for  the  skilled 
trades,  as  suggested  later,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  list  out 
sample  typical  jobs,  such  as,  for  example,  in  lathe  work,  turn- 
ing with  face  plate  and  dog,  chucked  jobs,  back-gear  jobs, 
hand-feed  jobs,  power-feed  jobs,  and  corresponding  general 
jobs  on  the  other  machines,  on  bench  work,  etc.,  and  to 
analyze  a  typical  standard  job  of  each  kind. 

Such  analyses  are  sufficient  to  serve  for  such  matters  as 
distribution  of  supervision,  safety,  detennining  job  require- 
ments and  so  on,  as  di«*cussed  later.f 

As  a  result  of  these  th  fee  steps,  there  is  obtained  a  classi- 
fied list  of  all  the  work  jobs  in  the  department,  as  indicated  in 
the  diagram  below — that  is,  a  departmental  analysis. 

*  For  a  full  discussion  and  description  of  the  methods  for  making 
such  a  complete  trade  analysis,  see  "  The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The 
Job,"  Chapter  VII. 

11  J?^\r^  ^®^^  complete  sample  trade  analysis,  see   Federal   Board 
Bulletin  No.  62.    Theory  and  Practice  of  the  Machinist's  Trade     Cooies 
can  be  obtained  from  the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Washington 
AJ.  C    Price  ten  cents.  °      * 


40 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      41 


SUGGESTIVE  LAY-OUT  FOB  A  DEPAETMENTAI*  ANALYSIS 

This  illustration  shows  a  lay-out  for  a  department  turn- 
ing out  three  distinct  kinds  of  product,  the  first  with  three 


The    De- 
partment 


Departmental 
Productioii  Job 
No.  1.  (Three  dif- 
ferent kinds  of 
payroll  jobs.) 


Payroll     job     A.-f . 
(Six  work  jobs.) 


job 


job 
job 


Payroll      job      B. 
work 


ayi 

( T  h  re  e 

jobs.) 


Work 
No.   1.* 

Work 
No.  2.» 

Work 
No.  8.» 

As  many  as 
there  are  in 
payroll  job 
A — say  4. 

Work    job 

No.  l.t 
Work    job 

No.  2.t 
As    many    as 

there   are   in 

payroll      job 

B — say  8. 


Payroll 
(Two 
jobs.) 


job      C. 
work 


W.o  r  k  j 
No.   I* 

Work  j 
No.  2.* 


ob 
Ob 


Departmental 
Production  Job 
No.  2.  (Three  dif- 
ferent kinds  of 
payroll  jobs.) 


Payroll      job      D. 

(Payroll    job    is/^^^,    .  ,  , 
the  same  as  the  i  ^^^^  J**^' 
work  job.) 


Payroll  job  E. 
(Two  work 
jobs.) 


Payroll  job  F. 
(Three  work 
jobs.) 


Work  job 

No.  l.» 
Work  job 

No.  2.» 

Work  job 

No.  !.♦ 
Work  job 

No.  2.» 
Work  job 

No.  B* 


Payroll  job  G. 
(One  work 
job.) 


Work  job.* 


Departmental 
Production  Job 
No.  3.  (Only  one 
kind  of  payroll  job.) 

•  Note  that  this  refers  to  the  different  kinds  of  jobs  without  paying 
any  attention  to  the  number  of  jobs  of  each  kind. 

t  Note  that  this  refers  to  the  different  kinds  of  payroll  jobs. 
i  The  department  turns  out  three  distinct  kinds  of  products. 


different  kinds  of  payroll  jobs,  the  second  with  three  and  the 
third  with  one.  The  first  payroll  job  has  four  work  jobs, 
the  second  has  three  and  the  third  has  two. 

For  the  second  product  the  first  payroll  job  is  the  same 
as  the  work  job,  the  second  has  two  and  the  third  has  three. 
The  third  product  has  one  kind  only. 

SECTION  III.  JOB  ANALYSIS 

Preliminary. — ^Just  as  the  ability  to  make  and  use  a  de- 
partmental analysis  is  of  service  to  a  foreman  in  connection 
with  planning  his  work,  so  he  will  find  it  equally  desirable  to 
be  able  to  analyze  work  jobs. 

According  to  the  special  purpose  for  which  the  analysis 
is  made,  there  are  a  number  of  possibilities,  among  which  are 
the  following,  as  discussed  in  other  chapters: 

( 1 )  The  Safety  Analysis. 

(2)  The  Supervisory  Analysis. 

(3)  The  Instruction  Analysis. 

(4)  The  Job  Requirement  Analysis. 

All  of  these  analyses  are  based  on  what  may  be  called 
a  Job  Analysis,  and  this  section  describes  a  method  of  making 
such  an  analysis. 

Making  the  Job  Analysis. — ^As  in  all  other  cases,  making 
an  analysis  means  merely  "taking  an  account  of  stock,"  or 
listing  out  what  has  to  be  done,  and  this  particular  analysis 
is  carried  out  by  the  following  steps : 

First,  dividing  the  work  job  into  operations. 

Second,  dividing  each  operation  into  operating  points. 

Third,  dividing  the  operating  points  into  two  kinds, 
machine  operating  points  and  human  operating  points. 

These  steps  are  described  and  discussed  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs : 


THE  FOREMAN    AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      43 


A  SUGGESTIVE  FORM  FOR  LAYING  OUT  THE  ANALY- 
SIS OF  THE  OPERATIONS  IN  A  JOB 


Operaticms 


Operating  points 


OpEiLiTioN  Number  1 


Machine 


Human 


Operation  Number  2 


Point  No.  1 


Point  No.  4 
Point  No.  5 

Point  No.  7 


Point  No.  1 
Point  No.  2 

Point  No.  4 


Point  No.  2 
Point  No.  3 


Point  No.  6 
Point  No.  8 


Point  No.  3 
Point  No.  5 


This  represents  a  two-operation  job,  having  eight  oper- 
ating points  in  the  first  operation,  of  which  four  are  machine- 
operating  points  and  four  are  human-operating  points.  In 
the  same  way,  operation  number  two  has,  out  of  a  total  of 
^ve,  three  machine-  and  two  human-operating  points. 

In  an  actual  lay-out  of  a  definite  job,  each  operation  and 
operating  point  would  be  named  sufficiently  to  identify  it. 
Thus,  in  operation  number  one,  point  three  might  be  "Pulling 
release  lever"  and  point  four,  "Discharging  onto  apron." 
Points  seven  and  eight  in  operation  one  are  indicated  as  simul- 
taneous operating  points— one  machine,  the  other  human. 

The  Departmental  Analysis  and  the  Job  Analysis.— -It 
will  be  readily  seen  that  making  the  departmental  analysis 
and  making  the  job  analysis  are  two  distinct  pieces  of  work. 


The  departmental  analysis  can  be  made  without  analyzing 
the  jobs  and  any  given  job  could  be  analyzed  without  making 
a  departmental  analysis. 

For  the  purposes  for  which  the  analysis  methods  are  used 
in  this  book,  it  is  usually  necessary  that  both  the  depart- 
mental and  the  job  analyses  be  made,  though,  as  will  be  dis- 
cussed in  later  chapters,  it  is  not  always  necessary  to  deter- 
mine the  operating  points  on  all  jobs. 

Operations  in  Work  Jobs. — ^An  operation  is  a  part  of  a 
work  job  that  carries  the  job  along  one  step,  and  most  work 
jobs  consist  of  more  than  one  operation.  As  a  rule,  when  one 
operation  is  completed  and  another  one  started,  the  character 
of  the  work  shifts.  Successive  operations  call  usually  for  the 
use  of  different  tools,  or  a  different  kind  of  skill,  or  sometimes 
both.  For  example,  in  a  machine  shop,  on  a  planer  job, 
setting  up  the  work  on  the  table  would  be  one  operation, 
adjusting  the  tool  or  the  tools  another,  adjusting  length  of 
stroke  another,  setting  feed  another,  operating  the  machine 
another,  and  so  on.  (Again,  in  a  chemical  plant,  in  making 
white  lead  by  the  Carter  process,  we  might  have  for  opera- 
tions: (1)  burning,  (2)  carbonating,  (3)  grinding,  (4) 
washing,  (5)  pressing;  so  that  in  this  case  we  might  have  a 
five-operation  job.) 

Illustrations  of  an  Analysis  of  a  "Work  Job." — ^Assuming 
that  the  job  to  be  analyzed  is  operating  a  typewriter,  the 
successive  operations  might  be  as  follows : 

1.  Inserting  paper. 

2.  Adjusting  paper. 

3.  Typing. 

4.  Removing  finished  job. 

And  the  above  list  of  operations  would  constitute  an  operation 
analysis  of  that  job. 

For  another  illustration  take  telling  timi*  by  an  "open 
face"  watch,  which  analyzes  as  follows : 

1.  Taking  hold. 

2.  Taking  out  of  pocket. 


44 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS     45 


i 


S.  Gretting  into  reading  position. 

4.  Reading  the  time. 

5.  Returning  to  pocket. 

Which  would  be  the  operation  analysis  for  that  job. 

It  should  be  noted  that  where  operations  are  repeated,  as 
in  the  case  of  typing,  the  operations  are  only  listed 
once,  though  they  may  be  repeated  a  great  many  times 
before  the  job  is  finished. 

Distinguishing  Between  Operations.— As  stated  above, 
when  new  tools  or  a  different  kind  of  skill  comes  into  play, 
this  indicates  the  end  of  one  operation  and  the  beginning  of 
another.  For  example,  on  the  typing  job,  different  parts  of 
the  machine  are  used  for  each  operation  as  listed,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  watch  operation  one  calls  for  one  kind  of  manipu- 
lation ;  operation  two  for  use  of  the  hands ;  operation  three 
for  eyes,  and  operation  four  for  a  different  use  of  the  fingers 
from  operation  one. 

Frequently  it  is  also  true  that  each  operation  in  a  work 
job  calls  for  a  different  sort  of  auxiliary  information.  A 
man  might  know  how  to  tell  time,  but  might  not  know  how  to 
get  the  watch  out  of  his  pocket. 

For  example,  in  typewriting,  inserting  the  paper  calls  for 
one  sort  of  knowledge  and  one  kind  of  manipulation,  and  is 
carried  out  for  one  purpose,  resetting  the  carriage  for  the 
next  line  is  done  for  another  purpose,  requires  different  man- 
ipulation and  calls  for  a  different  sort  of  knowledge. 

Number  of  Operations  in  Work  Jobs. — The  number  of 
operations  in  most  work  jobs  rarely  exceeds  eight  or  ten,  but 
is  rarely  only  one.  An  example  of  a  one-operation  job  would 
be  pushing  a  push  button,  or  a  wall  switch,  but  such  cases  are 
rare  in  industrial  work  jobs. 

Kinds  of  Jobs  that  can  be  Analyzed. — ^Any  job  can  be 
analyzed  into  operations  whether  it  be  a  production  job,  or 
some  other  kind  of  a  job,  such  as  reading  a  blue-print,  figur- 
ing out  a  problem,  or  washing  dishes,  or,  as  taken  up  later,  a 


supervisory  job,  or  managerial  job,  although  the  special  use 
of  the  analysis  method  as  described  here  is  in  connection  with 
production  jobs. 

The  Operation  Analysis. — The  list  of  operations  in  the 
job  listed  in  order  makes  the  operation  analysis  for  that, job. 

Operating  Points. — ^Just  as  any  one  work  job  can  be  di- 
vided into  operations,  so  any  operation  can  be  divided  into 
operating  points. 

For  example,  in  cutting  on  a  planer,  we  might  have  for 
operating  points : 

( 1 )  Forward  cutting. 

(2)  Lift  of  tool. 

(3)  Back  motion. 

(4)  Feed. 

that  is,  the  one  operation  consists  of  four  operating  points. 

Again,  in  the  typing  job  already  referred  to  for  operation 
No.  1,  we  might  have : 

(a.)   Picking  up  paper. 

(b.)   Feeding  onto  apron. 

(c.)   Catching  paper  on  platen. 

(d.)   Turning  up. 
and  for  the  second  operation, 

(e.)   Throwing  release  lever. 

(f.)   Taking  hold  of  paper. 

(g.)   Squaring  up  paper. 

(h.)   Throwing  off  release  lever. 

( i. )   Setting  to  first  line. 

In  this  way  each  operation  may  be  divided  into  the 
operating  points  of  which  it  is  made  up. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  other  operations  can  be  divided  into 
operating  points,  and  the  same  thing  can  be  done  with  opera- 
tions on  any  job  giving  an  operating  point  analysis. 

Human  vs.  Machine  Operating  Points. — ^After  having  di- 
vided the  operations  into  operating  points,  it  is  sometimes 
desirable  to  divide  these  operating  points  into  two  kinds : 


48 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


( 1 )  Machine,  or  tool,  operating  points. 

(2)  Human  operating  points. 

Practically  any  job  is  done  by  a  "team"  composed  of 
machines  or  tools  and  men,  and  the  operating  points  are  car- 
ried on  either  by  the  machine  or  tools  or  by  men.  Those 
operating  points  that  the  machine  or  tool  takes  care  of  may 
be  called  machine  operating  points;  those  that  the  worker 
takes  care  of  may  be  called  human  operating  points.  In  some 
jobs,  as  in  an  automatic  gear  cutter,  the  human  operating 
points  are  very  few;  in  other  jobs,  as  in  wood  carving,  most 
of  the  operating  points  are  human  operating  points ;  and  all 
operating  points  on  jobs  can  be  classified  under  one  heading 
or  the  other,  with  very  few  exceptions. 

Human  Operating  Points.— Wlierever  human  knowledge, 
strength  or  skill  is  required  to  carry  on  an  operation  we  have 
a  human  operating  point  as  distinguished  from  a  machine 
operating  point,  as  taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs.  A 
human  operating  point  is  merely  an  operation  or  a  point  in 
the  progress  of  the  job  where  somebody  has  to  do  something 
to  keep  the  job  going.  Whatever  that  "somebody"  has  to  do 
is  that  human  operating  point.  Operating  the  control  lever 
and  the  brake  valve  on  an  electric  car  are  human  operating 
points;  moving  the  car  is  a  machine  operating  point,  the 
motors  do  that  without  any  help. 

An  Illustration  of  Human  Operating  Points.— In  the  job 
analysis  of  a  typewriting  job,  as  just  given,  some  of 
the  human  operating  points  would  be  inserting  paper,  turning 
up  roller,  resetting  carriage  for  next  line,  and,  when  neces- 
sary, using  the  back  spacer. 

Machine  Operating  Points.— As  just  described,  a  machine 
operating  point  is  one  that  is  entirely  taken  care  of  by  the 
tool  or  the  machine  without  any  call  upon  human  knowledge 
or  skill.  It  often  happens  that  the  same  operation  can  be 
made  a  machine  or  a  human  operating  point,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  hand  or  automatic  feed  on  a  drill  press,  or  in  locating 
holes  for  drilling  either  by  measurement  and  construction 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS      47 

( laying  ou t )  or  by  the  use  of  a  templet.  The  j  ob  of  operating 
a  linotype  shows  many  more  macliine  operating  points  than 
the  same  job  when  done  with  the  stick  and  the  case. 

A  machine  operating  point  is,  therefore,  one  where  the 
machine  covers  that  special  part  of  the  job  unaided,  so  far  as 
that  particular  operating  point  is  concerned. 

An  Illustration  of  a  Machine  Operating  Point.— In  the 
case  of  the  typewriting  job  already  used  for  illustration,  the 
moving  of  the  ribbon,  the  moving  of  the  carriage  and  the 
striking  of  the  type  are  all  machine  operating  points.  A 
watch,  so  far  as  running  is  concerned,  is  all  machine  operating 
points,  except  for  winding.  So  far  as  running  goes,  a  steam 
engine  covers  all  operating  points  (admission  of  steam,  let- 
ting out  exhaust  steam)  without  any  outside  help,  although 
originally  the  valve  motions  were  human  operating  points  and 
workers  were  hired  to  cover  them. 

In  making  a  job  analysis  for  a  number  of  purposes,  it 
may  be  desirable  to  distinguish  between  human  and  machine 
operating  points ;  for  example,  this  is  important  in  connection 
with  instruction,  because  machine  operating  points  do  not 
have  to  be  taught ;  the  machine  is  already  thoroughly  "in- 
structed" and  "knows"  its  part  of  the  job. 

Simultaneous  Operating  Points.— Operating  points  may 
come  one  at  a  time  as  the  job  goes  along  or  two  or  more  may 
come  at  the  same  time,  in  which  case  we  have  what  may  be 
called  simultaneous  operating  points. 

Under  such  conditions  an  electrician  would  say  that  they 
were  in  parallel  instead  of  in  series.  An  example  of  a  case 
of  simultaneous  operating  points  would  be  where  a  man, 
driving  an  automobile,  gives  a  traffic  signal  with  one  arm 
and  turns  his  steering  wheel  at  the  same  time  with  the  other, 
or  when  he  throws  out  his  clutch  with  his  foot  and  at  the  same 
time  closes  his  throttle,  or  where,  on  a  drill  press  job  with 
hand  feed,  the  operator  watches  his  drill  and  at  the  same 
time  "  feels  "  his  feed. 

Sometimes,  as  in  the  illustrations  just  given,  a  man  can 


M  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

cover  two  or  more  simultaneous  operating  points  if  they  are 
not  too  far  apart,  but  in  many  cases  they  are  so  far  apart 
that  more  than  one  operator  is  required  to  cover  them,  some- 
times calling  for  as  many  men  as  there  are  operating  points 
that  must  be  covered  at  the  same  time. 

It  is  also  evident  that  it  would  be  more  difficult  to  learn 
to  cover  several  operating  points  at  once  than  it  would  be  to 
learn  them  if  they  came  one  at  a  time,  and  this  becomes  an 
important  matter  in  connection  with  instruction. 

While  the  fact  that  operating  points  may  or  may  not 
come  together  does  not  affect  the  making  of  the  analysis 
itself,  it  does  have  a  bearing  on  the  assignment  of  workers  to 
jobs  and  hence  should  be  noted  when  it  occurs,  with  human 
operating  points.  Of  course,  with  machine  operating  points 
it  makes  no  difference — ^the  machine  takes  care  of  itself. 

Making  the  Job  Analysis.— There  are  two  ways  of  mak- 
ing the  job  analysis :  The  first  is  to  do  the  job,  or,  if  one  is 
sufficiently  familiar  with  it,  go  through  it  in  the  mind,  as  the 
expression  goes — ^visualize  it. 

This  is  a  very  difficult  thing,  however,  for  most  people  to 
do  without  a  good  deal  of  practice,  and  usually  the  better 
they  are  on  the  job  the  more  difficult  they  find  it,  especially 
at  first. 

The  second  way  is  to  watch  a  first-class  worker  on  the 
job  and  note  the  various  operations  in  their  order.  This  is 
the  easier  way  for  most  people. 

In  either  case  it  is  evident  that  the  necessary  information 
can  only  come  from  somebody  who  knows  how  the  job  should 
be  done  and  can  do  it  that  way.  This  means,  of  course,  a 
*'shop  man." 

In  making  such  job  analyses  as  have  been  described  it  has 
been  found  convenient  to  use  some  sort  of  forms,  and  those 
given  below  have  been  found  convenient  for  that  purpose. 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS     49 

DEPARTMENTAL  PRODUCTION  JOB  ANALYSIS 


Name:. 


Position; 


Department: 


Note:  A  departmental  production  job  being  defined  as  an 
operation  or  process,  or  a  group  of  operations  or  processes,  giv- 
mg  a  definite  departmental  product,  either  intermediate  or 
fimshed,  hst  out  the  various  departmental  production  jobs  in 
your  department. 


I 

2  . 

3  - 

4  - 

5  _ 

6  _ 

7  _ 

8  _ 

9  - 
10- 
11  - 


12 


Remarks  u 


m  THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

WORK  JOBS  IN  DEPARTMENTAL  PRODUCTION  JOBS 

Name: .  Position: . 

Department: . 


Departmental  Production  Job- 


Names  of  Work  Jobs  as  part  of  Departmental  Production  Job. 


WORK 
JOBS 


THE  DEPARTMENTAL  AND  THE  WORK  JOB  ANALYSIS     51 

OPERATIONS  IN  WORK  JOBS 

Position:— ___^ 


Name : 

Department: 

Departmental  Production  Job 
Work  Job 


OPERA- 
TIONS 

No.  1 


No.  2 


No.  3 


No.  4 


No.  5 


No.  6 


No.  7 


If  desired,  one  column  may  be  used  for  mechanical,  the 
other  for  human  operating  points. 


'  y 


i, 


^ . 


i 


CHAPTER  IV 
MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB 

SECTION  I.  GENERAL  PRELIMINARY 

Preliminary. — The  supervisory  job  of  any  foreman  is 
made  up  of  supervisory  responsibilities,  just  as  a  work  job 
is  made  up  of  operations  and  operation  points.  Whatever 
the  supervisory  responsibilities  that  go  with  a  given  fore- 
man's job,  he  holds  himself  responsible  for  their  proper 
discharge,  and  is  held  responsible  by  his  superiors  for  putting 
across  all  of  his  responsibilities  completely  and  effectively. 
In 'order  that  he  may  do  this,  it  is  plain  that  he  must  know 
two  things : 

1.  He  must  know  aU  of  his  responsibilities,  not  only  a  part 
of  them,  and 

2.  He  must  know  the  most  effective  way  of  discharg- 
ing them. 

In  order  to  know  all  of  his  responsibilities,  he  must,  in 
some  way,  list  them  out ;  that  is,  he  must  do  the  same  thing 
with  his  supervisory  job  that  is  done  in  making  a  job  analysis 
as  described  in  the  last  chapter. 

This  chapter,  therefore,  deals  with  making  a  classified 
analysis  of  a  supervisory  job,  and  shows  how  the  method  of 
analysis  can  be  applied  to  determining  the  supervisory  re- 
sponsibilities  that   belong  in   the   supervisory   job  of   any 

one  foreman. 

What  is  a  Responsibility? — In  the  sense  in  which  the  term 

is  used  here,  a  responsibility  means  something  for  which  a 
foreman  could  be  properly  called  down  should  he  fail  to 
attend  to  it,  or  attend  to  it  properly.  For  example,  if  it 
were  a  part  of  the  job  (the  duty)  for  a  foreman  to  know  the 
quantities  of  material  in  his  department,  and  he  did  not  know, 
he  could  properly  be  called  down  for  not  having  discharged 
52 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  58 

that  responsibility.  If  it  were  a  part  of  his  duty  to  know, 
each  day,  the  number  of  men  in  his  department,  he  would  have 
another  responsibility,  if  it  were  up  to  him  to  know  that  all 
the  equipment  units  in  his  department  were  in  running  condi- 
tion, still  another,  and  so  on.  We  can,  therefore,  define  a 
responsibility  as  any  definite  part  of  a  foreman's  duty,  and 
a  supervisory  responsibility  as  any  definite  part  of  a  fore- 
man's supervisory  duty. 

The  Need  for  Analyzing  and  Classif3ring  Supervisory  Re- 
sponsibilities.—Before  a  foreman  can  give  attention  as  to  how 
he  can  best  discharge  his  responsibilities,  he  must  evidently 
know  just  what  he  has  got  to  discharge ;  that  is,  he  must 
divide  up  his  duty  into  the  definite  responsibilities  of  which 
it  is  composed.  He  must  "unscramble  the  omelette,"  so  to 
speak,  and  separate  the  different  eggs,  so  that  he  can  look  at 
them  and  see  what  they  are  before  he  can  do  anything  about 
them.  This  simply  means  that,  in  some  way,  he  must  make 
a  classified  analysis  of  his  job,  so  that  he  can  "stand  off  and 
look  at  it." 

The  Need  for  a  Complete  Analysis. — ^As  already  pointed 
out,  a  foreman  cannot  do  a  good  supervisory  job  unless  he 
does  a  complete  job,  and  in  order  to  be  able  to  do  that  he  must 
know  all  his  supervisory  responsibilities,  or  he  is  in  the  same 
class  with  a  "half-baked  mechanic,"  who  only  knows  a  part 
of  his  trade  or  his  job.  Any  analysis  that  is  any  good  must 
be  a  complete  analysis;  that  is,  it  must  include  all  of  the 
supervisory  responsibilities  that  go  with  that  foreman's 
supervisory  job. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  foremen  have  never  made  such 
an  analysis.  They  tUnk  that  they  know  all  of  their  responsi- 
bilities and  have  always  supposed  that  they  were  looking  out 
for  the  whole  of  their  job,  but,  in  many  cases,  when  they 
came  to  make  an  analysis  they  were  surprised  in  two  ways: 
First,  to  find  that  they  were  taking  care  of  responsibilities 
that  they  never  knew  that  they  had,  and  second,  that  they 
had  responsibilities   that    they  had  never   taken  care  of^ 


I 


54 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


although  when  the  facts  as  to  responsibilities  "came  out  in 
the  wash"  they  at  once  agreed  that  those  responsibilities 
were  a  part  of  their  duty  and  should  be  attended  to. 

Sometimes  a  foreman  will  find,  after  making  his  complete 
analysis,  that  he  and  his  superiors  do  not  fully  agree  as  to 
their  understanding  as  to  who  is  responsible  as  to  certain 
points,  and  again  the  fact  may  be  brought  out  that  certain 
points  have  been  "lost  in  the  shuffle  and  that  nobody  has  been 
made  responsible  for  them — they  are  "orphans."  Sometimes 
such  a  complete  analysis  brings  out  points  where  there  is 
danger  of  "crossed  wires"  between  different  foremen,  or 
between  foremen  and  their  superiors,  which  neyer  have  made 
trouble,  and  so  have  never  been  uncovered,  but  which  were 
liable  to  make  trouble  any  time.  Sometimes  it  brings  out 
cases  where  two  people  have  both  been  given  the  same  respon- 
sibility, which,  of  course,  is  always  liable  to  make  trouble. 

A  complete  supervisory  responsibility  analysis  is,  there- 
fore, of  great  value  in  a  number  of  ways,  because  it  may  serve 
at  least  the  following  purposes : 

1.  It  defines  the  supervisory  job. 

2.  It  may  uncover  points  as  to  which  supervisory  respon- 
sibilities have  not  been  clearly  defined. 

3.  It  inay  uncover  "lost"  points  that  might  become  the 
cause  of  difficulties  and  misunderstandings. 

4.  It  may  bring  to  light  responsibilities  that  belong  in  the 
job  that  have  not  been  thought  of  as  being  a  part  of  th« 
supervisory  job. 

The  Need  for  a  Complete  Classified  Analysis  of  the 
Supervisory  Job.— For  all  of  these  reasons  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  others  that  will  come  out  of  discussion  and  thought  on 
the  matter,  a  complete  classified  analysis  of  the  supervisory 
job  is  the  first  necessity  for  a  basis  for  working  out  the  vari- 
ous problems  in  supervision  and  management  that  must  be 
handled  carefully  and  intelligently  by  all  foremen. 

^wo  Ways  of  Making  the  Complete  Supervisory 
Analysis.— There  are  two  ways  of  making  such  a  complete 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  BS 

classified  analysis  which  may  be  called  for  convenience  the 
checking  method  and  the  listing  out  method,  of  which  the 
checking  method  is  usually  the  easier  when  it  can  be  worked. 
Since  both  methods  may  be  used  they  are  described  in  follow- 
ing sections,  and  since  both  require  the  use  of  a  classification 
system,  the  system  used  in  this  book  is  briefly  described  first. 

The  Classification  System.— The  particular  classification 
used  in  this  book  as  a  basis  for  making  classified  analyses  of 
both  supervisory  and  managerial  jobs  is  set  up  to  provide  a 
means  for  progressive  classification  of  supervisory  responsi- 
bilities by  starting  with  large  groups  of  responsibilities,  divid- 
ing those  groups  into  smaller  groups,  again  dividing  into 
smaller  groups  and  so  on,  so  that  any  given  supervisory 
responsibility  can  be  "picked  out  of  the  job"  as  exactly  as 
is  necessary. 

This  system  of  classification  is  described  and  the 
different  classification  headings  are  explained  in  the  fol- 
lowing section. 

A   COMPARISON    BETWEEN   A    PRODUCTION    LAY-OUT   AND   A    RE- 
SPONSIBILITY   LAY-OUT    FOR    A    FOREMAN'S    JOB 

1.  The  Field  Lay-out. 
A  concern  operating  one  to     A   foreman's   job,   including 
three    plants,    each    plant  one  to  three  fields  of  re- 

turning   out    a    different  sponsibility.     1.  Supervis- 

P^oduct.  ory     responsibilities.       2. 

Managerial      responsibili- 
ties.      3.  Instructing  re- 
sponsibilities. 
2.  The  Block  Lay-out. 
Each  plant  has  one  or  more      Each  field   of  responsibility 
departments.  covers  one  or  more  blocks. 

3.  The  General  Responsibility  Lay-out. 
Different      departments      in      Each  block  contains  different 
each  plant  turn  out  prod-  general  responsibilities  of 

ucts  of  the  same  general         the  same  general  kind. 
Kind. 


M  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

4.  The  Specific  Responsibility  Lay-out. 

There  are  one  or  more  jobs     There  are  one  or  more  spe- 
for      each      departmental  cific  responsibilities  in  each 

product.  general  responsibility. 

6.  The  Detailed  Responsibility  Lay-out. 

There  are  one  or  more  opera-     There  are  one  or  more  de- 
tions  in  each  job.  tailed     responsibilities     in 

each     detailed     responsi- 
bility. 

6.  The  Responsibility  Point  Lay-out. 

There  are  one  or  more  oper-     There  are  one  or  more  re- 
ating  points  in  each  opera-  sponsibility  points  in  each 

tion  in  a  job.  specific  responsibility. 

SECTION  n.  CLASSIFICATION  HEADINGS  FOR  A  GENERAL  RESPON- 
SIBILITY  LAY-OUT    OF   A    SUPERVISORY   JOB 

Preliminary. — ^This  section  gives  the  classification  head- 
ings used  in  making  out  a  general  responsibility  lav-out  for  a 
supervisory  job.  The  next  section  describes  how  such  a 
general  responsibility  lay-out  can  be  further  developed  into 
a  detailed  responsibility  lay-out. 

The  General  Responsibility  Lay-out. — The  following 
diagram  shows  the  classification  headings  and  their  relation 
to  each  other.    They  are: 

1.  Fields. 

2.  Blocks  in  fields. 

8.  Greneral  responsibilities  in  the  different  blocks, 
each  classification  heading  carrying  the  meaning  as  given 
below. 

Fields. — ^As  the  term  is  used  here,  field  means  either  one 
of  the  three  groups  into  which  a  foreman's  responsibilities 
can  be  divided,  supervision,  including  all  responsibilities  for 
getting  the  jobs  done;  management,  including  all  responsi- 
bilities for  getting  the  jobs  done  at  the  least  cost,  depending, 
of  course,  upon  the  way  in  which  the  managerial  responsibil- 
ities are  discharged;  and  instruction,  which  includes  all  re- 


MAKENG  THE  ANALYSIS  OP  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  m 

sponsibilities  in  connection  with  putting  over  any  kind  of 
knowledge  or  skill,  or  both. 

We  have,  therefore,  the  three  fields : 

1.  The  supervisory  field. 

2.  The  managerial  field. 

3.  The  instructional  field. 

THE    RELATIONS    OF    THE    CLASSIFICATION    HEADINGS    USED   IN 
MAKING  A  GENERAL  RESPONSIBILITY  LAY-OUT  FOR 

A  SUPERVISORY  JOB 

Greneral  Responsibility 


Block     General  Responsibility 


Field 


Block 


General  Responsibility 
General  Responsibility 
Greneral  Responsibility 


Greneral  Responsibility 


General  Responsibility 
Greneral  Responsibility 


Block 


General  Responsibility 
Blocks  in  the  Different  Fields.— If  we  take  all  the  respon- 
sibilities in  any  one  field  and  consider  what  a  man  has  to  think 
about  when  he  discharges  them  we  find  that  he  does  not  al- 
ways think  of  the  same  things.  For  example,  a  foreman  in  a 
foundry  making  brittle  hollow  castings,  in  seeing  that  those 


58 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


1 


castings  are  not  broken  in  handling,  is  thinking  about  cast- 
ings, while  if  he  is  seeing  that  there  are  enough  men  on  the 
job  of  moving  those  castings,  he  does  not  think  of  castings, 
but  of  men,  while  a  foreman  in  a  machine  shop,  looking  over 
the  set-up  of  a  planer  job  before  it  is  started,  is  thinking 
about  neither  castings,  nor  men,  but  of  an  operation  in  a  job. 

A  foreman  in  seeing  that  all  danger  points  are  guarded 
is  thinking  of  danger  from  accidents,  while  when  he  gives 
orders  he  is  thinking  of  making  the  person  to  whom  he  gives 
the  orders  understand  exactly  what  he  is  to  do.  The  respon- 
sibilities in  the  supervisory  field  can,  therefore,  be  "bunched," 
according  to  what  a  man  is  thinking  about  when  he  discharges 
those  responsibilities  and  these  "bunches"  of  supervisory 
responsibilities  may  be  called  blocks. 

Block  Defined. — ^A  block  can  be  defined,  therefore,  as  a 
group  of  supervisory  responsihilities,  all  of  which  require  a 
man  to  think  of  the  same  sort  of  thing  when  he  dis- 
charges them. 

Evidently,  if  in  listing  out  his  supervisory  responsibilities 
in  one  field,  a  foreman  finds  two  that  will  make  him  think  of 
the  same  sort  of  thing  when  he  discharges  them,  they  belong 
in  the  same  block ;  but  if  he  finds  that,  in  discharging  them, 
he  must  think  of  different  sorts  of  things,  he  knows  that  they 
belong  in  different  blocks.  For  example,  if  a  man  had  respon- 
sibilities for  storing  finished  material  from  his  department 
until  it  was  turned  over  to  the  transportation  department 
and  also  had  responsibility  for  checking  material  when  it 
came  into  his  department,  in  discharging  both  responsibil- 
ities he  would  be  thinking  of  the  same  thing,  stock,  and  not 
thinking  of  other  things,  such  as  men,  operations  or  reports ; 
so  we  would  say  that  those  two  supervisory  responsibilities 
were  in  the  same  block,  which  tells  the  same  story  in 
fewer  words. 

The  Block  Base. — The  things  that  a  man  thinks  about  in 
discharging  all  the  supervisory  responsibilities  that  belong 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  S9 

in  one  block  is  called  the  block  base,  and,  of  course,  different 
blocks  have  different  block  bases. 

Block  Bases. — ^The  block  bases  into  which  all  supervisory 
responsibilities  can  be  checked  up,  and  the  names  of  the 
blocks  are  as  f oIIoavs  : 

1.  Stock. 

2.  Operations  and  Processes. 

3.  Tools  and  Equipment. 

4.  The  Working  Force. 

5.  Information. 

7.  Human  Factors. 
And  all  responsibilities  in  the  supervisory  field  can  be  placed 
in  one  of  these  blocks. 

The  Block  Lay-out.^ — ^If,  in  the  case  of  the  supervisory 
job  of  any  given  foreman,  we  list  out  all  the  blocks  in  which 
he  has  any  supervisory  responsibilities  we  have  what  may  be 
called  a  block  lay-out  of  that  particular  foreman's  super- 
visory job. 

Dividing  up  the  Responsibilities  in  a  Block. — ^Just  as  it 
was  possible  to  divide  all  the  responsibilities  in  a  given  field 
among  the  different  blocks  in  that  field,  so  it  is  possible  to 
divide  all  the  responsibilities  in  a  given  block  into  groups  that 
are  called  General  Responsibilities,  so  that  one  block  may  be 
broken  up  into  any  necessary  number  of  general  responsi- 
bilities, according  to  the  general  responsibility  base,  or,  as  it 
is  more  commonly  called,  the  classification  base. 

General  Responsibilities.— The  basis  selected  here  for  the 
general  responsibility  base  is  the  fact  that,  if  we  consider  the 
different  possible  supervisory  responsibilities  in  a  block  we 
find  that  they  differ  as  to  the  condition  of  material  or  as  to 
the  purpose  for  which  the  supervision  is  necessary.  For  ex- 
ample, if  a  foreman  has  supervisory  responsibilities  in  the 
stock  block,  they  may  be  with  stock  in  any  or  all  of  three 
conditions,  as  it  comes  into  the  department,  while  it  is  going 
through  the  department  and  after  it  is  finished,  so  far  as  the 
department  is  concerned.    Again,  if  a  foreman  had  responsi- 


} 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


bilities  as  to  the  repairing  of  broken  tools,  or,  in  a  machine 
shop,  the  redressing  of  tools,  and  was  also  responsible  for 
ordering  new  tools,  the  two  sorts  of  supervisory  responsi- 
bilities would  concern  themselves  with  equipment  in  a  different 
condition,  new  and  already  in  service,  although  both  would 
be  in  the  equipment  block.  Again,  in  the  information  block 
a  foreman  might  have  responsibilities  for  checking  material 
as  it  came  in  and  for  checking  it  when  it  went  out  of  the 
department,  and  his  checks  would  deal  with  material  in  a 
different  condition. 

In  the  working  force  block,  if  a  foreman  had  responsi- 
bilities for  seeing  that  all  jobs  were  covered  and  also  that' 
the  right  man  was  on  the  right  job,  he  would  not  be  dealing 
with  responsibilities  relating  to  material  in  different  condi- 
tions, but  with  responsibilities  having  a  different  purpose, 
one  to  get  men  enough  on  the  jobs  to  keep  the  jobs  going, 
the  other  to  get  enough  knowledge  and  skill  on  those  jobs  to 
keep  them  going. 

A  general  responsibility  can,  therefore,  be  called  a  group 
of  responsibilities  in  a  block  that  either  deal  with  ma- 
terial in  some  particular  condition  or  that  have  the 
same  general  purpose. 

General  Responsibilities  in  Blocks. — ^According  to  the 
system  of  classification  used  in  this  book,  the  general  respon- 
aibilities  in  the  different  blocks  are  as  follows : 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  61 


Block.  Greneral  Responsibility.  Base. 

Raw    departmental  Condition    of 

Stock  ^/*f  .^  stock 

otock  m  process 

Finished  stock 

Tools  and  Equip- 1 Equipment  in  service  Condition    and 
ment  1  New  equipment  amount     of 

equipment 


Operations     a  n  d^Peration  control       letting    the 
Processes  i  ^hiingmg  operations      ^^^,^^    « 

New  operations 


The    Working!  Keeping  up 
Force  I  Distributing 


The  Information 
Block 


Recording 

Giving     and     trans- 
mitting 

Reporting 

Ordering,  directing, 
suggesting 


product 

Securing  the 
necessary 
strength,  knowl- 
edge   and    skill 

Handling  the 
necessary  infor- 
mation between 
one  member  of 
the  team  and 
another  member 


The  Human  Fac- 
tor Block 


I 


Relations  set  up  by  m  /.         , 

xu  '     ,i      '^    lo   secure   fixed 

the  organization  <i  ^  c  u 

Cooperation  responsibiHties 

The  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  work-  The    mental    atti- 

ing  force  tude  and  the 

The  mental  attitude  physical    condi- 

of    the    workmg  tion  of  the  mem- 

^^'^^^  bersoftheteam. 


The    Instructing 
Field 


Instruction 


r.  ..         .•  .XI.  Putting  over  job 

Cooperating         with       knowledge    or 

other    trainmg        i .«  ° 

agencies 


.  II 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

Any  responsibility  can  be  placed  under  one  of  these  gen- 
eral responsibility  headings.  As  some  explanation  may  be 
needed  to  make  the  meaning  of  these  headings  plain,  they  are 
taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs : 

The  Term  "General  Responsibility."— When  we  speak  of 
a  man  as  "having  general  responsibility  for  something,"  we 
tell  what  that  "something"  is,  but  do  not  go  into  any  further 
details  as  to  just  what  kinds  of  responsibilities  he  has.  The 
"something"  is,  of  course,  what  is  called  here  the  base.  We 
would  say,  for  example,  that  the  steward  in  a  hotel  had  a 
general  supervisory  responsibility  for  seeing  that  all  neces- 
sary food  was  provided  and  that  the  chef  had  general  super- 
visory responsibilities  for  seeing  that  it  was  cooked.  The 
foreman  of  a  section  gang  on  a  railroad  would  have  a  general 
responsibility  as  to  the  condition  of  the  track  in  his  section. 
The  foreman  of  a  maintenance  gang  "is  generally  respon- 
sible" for  all  repairs,  and  so  on. 

Of  course,  with  regard  to  all  general  responsibilities,  we 
could  go  on  and  specify  what  responsibilities  go  with  that 
general  responsibility,  as  is  taken  up  in  later  chapters.  The 
following  paragraphs  only  deal  with  general  responsibilities 
as  such. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Stock  in  Process. ^The 

main  point  here  is  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  general  responsi- 
bility only  refers  to  responsibilities  for  the  stock  itself  and 
does  not  refer  to  responsibilities  for  seeing  that  something  is 
done  to  the  stock — that  is,  responsibilities  for  operations  or 
processes.  If  this  distinction  is  kept  clearly  in  mind,  there 
should  be  little  trouble  in  "spotting"  the  two  kinds  of  respon- 
sibilities. For  example,  where  there  are  several  serial  opera- 
tions carried  on  in  one  department,  something  must  be  done 
with  intermediate  products  between  operations  and  such 
"sumpage"  would  be  stock  in  process.  There  might,  for 
example,  be  a  responsibility  for  seeing  that  such  sumpage 
was  protected  from  damage,  or,  in  a  silverware  factory,  from 
theft,  and  so  on.    The  point  here  is  that  all  supervisory  re- 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  68 

sponsibilities  that  would  belong  in  the  general  responsibility 
for  stock  in  process  require  the  supervisor  to  think  of  the 
stock,  not  of  operations  carried  out  on  that  stock,  or  proc- 
esses through  which  it  is  put. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Finished  Stock. — Such  a 
general  responsibility  includes  any  responsibilities  for  ma- 
terial after  it  has  left  the  last  operation,  or  machine,  and 
before  it  is  actually  turned  over  to  somebody  else.  In  a 
maintenance  department  it  may  mean  a  machine  that  has 
been  repaired  and  is  standing  waiting  to  be  trucked  over  to 
the  department  where  it  belongs.  In  house  carpentry  it  might 
be  a  completed  house  not  yet  turned  over  to  the  owner.  Any 
responsibilities  that  have  to  do  with  the  finished  departmental 
product,  up  to  the  time  that  it  is  actually  turned  over  to 
somebody  else,  belongs  in  this  group,  and  if  a  foreman  has  any 
responsibilities  of  this  kind  we  would  say  that  he  had  a  general 
responsibility  for  finished  stock  as  a  part  of  his  super- 
visory job. 

General  Responsibilities  for  Equipment  in  Service. — ^All 
foremen  understand  the  sort  of  supervisory  responsibilities 
that  go  with  a  general  responsibility  for  equipment  in  service. 
The  only  difficulty  is  to  avoid  not  getting  mixed  up  between 
equipment  responsibilities  and  responsibilities  for  seeing  that 
jobs  are  done  with  the  aid  of  that  equipment,  since  these  last 
would  belong  under  operations  and  processes.  In  general, 
whenever  a  man  has  supervisory  responsibilities  for  equip- 
ment in  service,  he  thinks  about  getting  something  done,  so 
that  the  equipment  of  his  department  will  do  what  is  expected 
of  it ;  that  is,  he  thinks  of  its  condition. 

It  should  be  noted  that  this  general  responsibility  covers 
all  supervisory  responsibilities  of  any  kind  that  relate  to 
departmental  equipment  so  long  as  no  changes  are  in  ques- 
tion ;  as  soon  as  a  man  begins  to  think  about  changes  in  his 
equipment  in  connection  with  any  responsibilities  that  he  may 
have,  he  has  got  over  into  responsibilities  in  connection  with 
new  equipment  as  discussed  in  the  following  paragraph. 


■  I'; 
1 


rv 


84  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

General  Responsibilities  for  New  Equipment. — ^With  the 
exception  of  small  tools  and  attachments,  a  foreman  is  likely 
to  be  mostly  concerned  with  supervisory  responsibilities  in 
connection  with  equipment  "as  is" ;  still  it  is  possible  that  he 
may  have  responsibilities  that  will  make  him  think  about 
additions  or  changes  in  his  equipment,  and  this  is  quite  likely 
to  happen  in  the  case  of  small  tools  and  attachments.  Under 
these  conditions  he  would  have  some  sort  of  responsibilities 
in  the  general  supervisory  responsibility  for  new  equipment. 
For  example,  he  might  have  something  to  do  with  replacing, 
changing  or  enlarging  equipment,  either  by  recommendation 
or  suggestion,  and  it  is,  of  course,  possible  that  he  may  have 
the  responsibility  for  direct  buying,  though  this  is  improbable 
except  possibly  in  very  small  plants.  For  illustration,  he 
might  be  responsible  for  recommending  the  replacement  of  a 
given  type  of  unit  by  some  other  type,  or  the  junking  of 
worn-out  machines.  He  might  be  consulted  in  regard  to  a 
new  installation  of  equipment  when  a  chemical  plant  took  up 
the  production  of  a  new  product.  He  might  have  a  "say" 
with  regard  to  the  installation  of  safety  devices.  It  is  not  at 
all  unlikely  that  he  would  be  responsible  for  requisitioning  for 
new  small  tools  or  for  new  parts  of  machines. 

Still,  on  the  whole,  his  responsibility  points  under  this 
head  are  likely  to  be  fewer  than  with  regard  to  equipment  in 
service,  but  whatever  he  has  would  belong  under  this  general 

job  classification. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Operation  Control. — ^This 
is  really  the  general  responsibility  that  most  foremen  think  is 
the  main  part  of  their  supervisory  job,  because  it  takes  in 
those  responsibilities  with  which  a  foreman  is  most  concerned 

on  "the  run  of  his  job,"  but,  as  a  rule,  they  are  also  the  ones 
on  "the  run  of  his  job,"  but,  as  a  rule,  they  are  also  the  ones 
that  bother  him  the  least,  because  he  knows  the  most  about 
them,  and  has  had  the  most  experience  in  discharging  them. 
While  this  is  true,  there  are  some  things  about  this  general 
responsibility  that  are  worth  mentioning,  among  which  are  the 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB 


65 


sense   in   which   the   terms    operations    and   processes    are 
used  here. 

The  terms  operation  and  process,  while  they  really  mean 
about  the  same  thing,  often  have  slightly  different  meanings 
to  foremen  in  different  lines  of  work,  and  so  both  terms  are 
used  to  avoid  any  possible  confusion.  Operation,  to  some 
men,  means  changing  the  stock  by  some  mechanical  means,  as 
in  a  machine  shop  we  might  speak  of  rough  turning,  grinding, 
thread  cutting  as  different  operations.  Used  in  this  sense,  it 
implies  that  there  is  some  sort  of  a  change  in  the  stock,  a 
time  during  which  the  stock  is  unchanged,  then  another 
change,  and  so  on ;  that  is,  the  product  is  got  out  by  a  series 
of  "jumps"  or  "little  jobs"  inside  the  whole  job,  the  stock 
being  changed  in  some  way  on  each  little  job,  but  its  nature 
is  not  changed. 

The  term  process  is  often  used  to  indicate  a  production 
job  that  changes  the  nature  of  the  material,  as  in  making 
steel,  or  acid ;  and  that  goes  on  steadily  from  start  to  finish, 
as  in  most  chemical  plants.  A  foreman  in  a  chemical  plant 
would  be  more  likely  to  talk  of  processes,  and  a  foreman  in 
a  machine  plant  of  operations,  but  the  distinction,  if  any,  is 
not  important  from  the  standpoint  of  the  responsi- 
bility analysis. 

In  discharging  any  responsibilities  that  belong  in  this 
general  responsibility,  a  foreman  thinks  about  the  results;  he 
thinks  about  getting  the  job  done  right.  It  would  include 
such  responsibilities  as  seeing  that  the  right  operations  were 
used,  or  that  the  right  tools  were  used,  or  that  these  tools 
were  in  the  right  condition  to  be  used.  It  would  include 
responsibility  for  saying  when  a  process  was  completed  or  had 
been  carried  to  a  point  where  something  had  to  be  done — say, 

a  test  made,  or  a  heat  chanffed.    In  sreneral.  then,  if  a  forp- 
a  test  made,  or  a  heat  changed.     In  general,  then,  if  a  fore- 
man has  any  responsibilities  for  the  way  in  which  his  product 
comes  out  he  has   a  general  responsibility  for  operations 
and  processes. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Changing  Operations. 


M 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


By  changing  operations  is  meant  having  some  sort  of  respon- 
sibility for  changing  the  regular  methods  for  doing  a  job. 
This  is  most  likely  to  come  either  in  an  emergency  or  as  a 
recommending  or  suggesting  responsibility.  For  instance,  a 
foreman,  as  the  man  best  acquainted  with  the  working  of  a 
process  in  practice  might  be  called  into  consultation  with 
regard  to  some  proposed  changes  that  were  under  considera- 
tion, or  might  himself  be  expected  to  suggest  such  changes 
as  the  thing  worked  out  in  the  department.*  If  a  foreman 
has  any  responsibilities  in  this  connection,  either  acting,  sug- 
gesting or  recommending,  it  would  be  properly  said  that 
he  had   a   general   responsibility   for   changing   operations 

and  processes. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  New  Operations.— The 

conditions  here  are  just  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  changing 
operations  and  processes,  and  the  same  discussion  would 
apply.  In  this  case,  a  foreman  having  such  general  responsi- 
bilities would  be  thinking  of  devising  entirely  new  operations 
or  processes  rather  than  of  modifying  those  already  in  use. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Keeping  up  the  Working 
Force. — ^If  any  given  job  is  to  be  done  at  all,  the  worker  on 
that  job  must  have  at  least  enough  job  knowledge  and  skill,  or 
physical  strength,  or  both,  to  do  that  job.  That  is,  there  is  a 
certain  minimum  for  each  job  below  which  the  foreman  cannot 
go  in  assigning  and  still  get  out  his  product.  One  general  re- 
sponsibility may,  therefore,  be  due  to  the  necessity  of  provid- 
ing workers  who  possess  such  a  minimum  amount  of  knowledge 
and  skill  for  each  job  in  his  department.  For  example,  sup- 
pose that  on  one  particular  job  it  is  necessary  for  the  operator 
to  read  a  pressure  gauge ;  if  he  does  not  know  how  to  do  it,  the 


♦  In  many  plants  there  are  regular  conferences  with  the  production 
control  experts  as  to  the  way  that'the  production  is  coming  out.  Where 
this  is  the  case  the  foremen  have,  of  course,  responsibilities  in  this  general 
responsibility  when  thev  take  part  in  such  conferences  just  as  much  as 
if  they  acted  directly  iii  their  own  departments.  This  fact  is  mentioned 
because  many  foremen  in  laying  out  their  supervisory  jobs  do  not  include 
such  "  conference  responsibilities  "  in  their  lay-outs. 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISOHY  JOB  67 

job  cannot  be  done.  Again,  it  is  necessary  to  put  a  man  on 
a  milling  machine ;  if  he  does  not  know  enough  about  running 
the  machine  to  do  whatever  his  job  on  that  machine  calls  for, 
the  getting  out  of  the  product  is  stopped — ^it  cannot  be 
turned  out  at  all  under  these  conditions. 

In  discharging  supervisory  responsibilities  under  this 
general  responsibility  a  foreman  thinks  about  getting  at  least 
workers  enough  to  keep  all  jobs  in  his  department  going,  or, 
at  least,  to  keep  going  all  jobs  that  he  is  expected  to  keep  in 
operation.  Jobs  cannot  be  carried  on  without  workers,  so, 
if  the  required  departmental  product  is  to  be  got  out,  there 
must  be  at  least  enough  workers  to  cover  the  necessary  human 
operating  points.  With  less  than  that  number  the  depart- 
ment could  not  run.  In  order  to  provide  this  number,  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  up  the  working  force,  and  a  foreman  may 
have  responsibility  points  in  this  connection.  For  example, 
he  may  have  to  act  in  some  way  to  secure  new  men,  or  to  pro- 
vide a  reserve,  or  to  transfer  or  discharge  men,  or  to  "double 
up,"  or  in  some  other  way  may  have  responsibilities  in  con- 
nection with  the  ^'manning"  job. 

A  foreman  may,  therefore,  have  a  general  responsibility 
for  the  distribution  of  the  working  force  if,  in  discharging 
these  responsibilities  he  has  to  think  of  the  qualifications  of 
the  worker  with  regard  to  the  requirements  of  the  job,  as  to 
strength,  job  ability  or  job  knowledge,  rather  than  thinking 
of  the  job  as  being  "killed"  simply  because  there  was  nobody 
to  take  care  of  it.  There  might  be  somebody  on  the  job,  and 
yet  the  job  be  killed  because  that  somebody  did  not  know 
enough  to  hold  it  down.  It  is  the  sort  of  supervisory  responsi- 
bility for  seeing  that  this  does  not  happen  that  is  meant  when 
we  speak  of  a  general  responsibility  for  the  distribution  of 
the  working  force. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Reporting.— A  report  is 
some  information  that  is  intended  to  be  sent  out  of  the  depart- 
ment for  the  use  of  somebody  else,  usually  some  superior. 
Most  foremen  have  some  sort  of  reports  to  make  and  so  have 


I 


i   : 


88  THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

this  general  responsibility.  As  in  the  case  of  information,  the 
only  point  of  difficulty  is  in  remembering  that  the  form  in 
which  the  information  is  sent  out  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
responsibility  for  seeing  that  it  is  sent.  For  example,  when  a 
defective  piece  comes  into  a  department  and  is  sent  back  with 
a  **rework  order,"  that  order  is  a  report  to  the  foreman  from 
whose  department  it  came.  When  a  requisition  is  drawn  on 
the  supply  department,  that  is  a  report  to  the  head  of  that 
department  that  certain  materials  or  tools  are  lacking  and 
must  be  supplied  if  the  work  of  that  department  is  not  to 
be  killed. 

Another  point  that  often  causes  confusion  in  discussing 
this  particular  general  responsibility  is  that  a  spoken  report 
is  just  as  much  a  report  as  a  written  one.  When  a  foreman 
says  to  his  superior,  "Mr.  Jones,  we  are  going  to  run  out  of 
castings  for  No.  6  to-morrow,  if  we  can't  get  some  more  out 
of  the  foundry  by  that  time,"  he  has  made  a  report  exactly 
as  much  as  if  he  had  sat  down  and  dictated  it  to  a  perfectly 
good  stenographer,  who  had  in  turn  written  it  on  a  perfectly 
good  t^'^pewriter,  and  he  had  caref uUy  read  it  over  and  signed 
it.  In  many  cases  the  spoken  report  is  the  quicker  way,  but 
it  is  a  report  just  the  same,  and  because  a  foreman  does  not 
have  to  hand  in  written  reports  this  does  not  mean  that  he 
does  not  have  a  general  responsibility  for  reporting.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  is  one  general  responsibility  that  all  fore- 
men have.  As  a  supervisor,  any  foreman  has  a  general  respon- 
sibility for  seeing  that  all  reports  are  made  that  must  be  made 
in  order  to  get  the  work  done. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Recording  Information.— ^ 

In  practically  all  cases  a  foreman  has  a  general  responsibility 
for  keeping  some  sort  of  records.  In  discharging  this  respon- 
sibility he  thinks  about  seeing  that  such  records  can  be  used 
effectively  at  any  time  after  they  are  made,  either  by  himself 
or  by  somebody  else;  that  is,  he  thinks  of  the  purpose  for 
which  the  records  are  kept.  He  does  not  ^^keep  records  for 
the  fun  of  keeping  them." 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OP  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB         89 

It  should  be  remembered  that,  whatever  its  form,  whenever 
any  sort  of  information  is  put  down  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  anybody  to  secure  that  information  later,  even  if  it 
is  only  to  avoid  trusting  to  memory,  we  have  a  record,  but 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  record  is  used  here,  it  refers 
only  to  such  cases  where  the  information  as  recorded  remains 
in  the  foreman's  department.  If  it  goes  out  of  his  depart- 
ment to  anybody  else,  it  becomes  a  report  and  belongs  in  a 
general  reporting  responsibility,  as  discussed  later.  A  gen- 
eral recording  responsibility  in  the  supervisory  field,  there- 
fore, means  a  responsibility  for  putting  down  in  some  form 
information  for  future  use  in  the  department. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Giving  and  Transmitting 
Information.— This  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  uni- 
versal general  responsibilities  that  a  foreman  has.    If  he  were 
deaf  and  dumb  and  could  not  write,  he  would  be  in  a  bad  fix 
so  far  as  discharging  this  particular  general  responsibility 
IS  concerned.    In  discharging  this  particular  general  respon- 
sibility, whether  he  gives  the  information  himself  or  whether 
somebody  else  gives  it  to  the  person  to  whom  it  is  given,  a 
supervisor  thinks  of  putting  the  information  in  question 
"across"  correctly  or  of  seeing  that  it  is  put  across  correctly. 
That  IS  his  supervisory  job,  because  if  the  information  is 
necessary  to  get  the  job  done  at  aU,  if  it  is  not  put  over,  or 
put  over  to  the  right  person,  the  job  stops,  and,  as  in  aU 
similar  situations,  if  the  job  stops,  the  supervisor  has  faUen 
down  on  his  job  as  a  supervisor. 

The  chief  difficulty  here  is  in  remembering  that,  so  far  as 
the  supervisory  responsibility  is  concerned,  the  special  form 
in  which  the  information  is  given  makes  no  difference.  Thus, 
for  example,  a  direction  or  an  order  is  information.  A  posted' 
notice  is  information,  passing  out  a  pamphlet  on  safety  pre- 
cautions is  transmitting  information.  The  point  is  to  think 
of  why  the  responsibility  has  to  be  discharged  and  not  about 
rvhat  it  is  discharged  with^the  tools  used  in  discharging  it 
so  to  speak— and  if  this  is  done  there  is  not  likely  to  be  con-' 


70 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


fusion  in  thinking  about  this  particular  general  responsibility 
or  in  discussing  cases  in  connection  with  it.  It  is  not  a 
question  as  to  whether  the  information  was  written  or  spoken, 
whether  it  was  written  on  a  shingle  or  printed,  or  whether  a 
foreman  gives  it  himself  or  somebody  else  gives  it  at  his  direc- 
tion, the  general  responsibility  is  there  just  the  same.  So  far 
as  the  supervisory  responsibility  goes,  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  a  foreman  says,  "Bill,  do  so  and  so,"  or  "Bill,  tell 
Jim  to  do  so  and  so,"  he  has  the  same  general  responsibility 
for  seeing  that  the  job  is  not  killed,  because  that  information 
was  not  put  across  as  it  should  have  been.  Two  samples  of 
information  might  be  "You're  fired"  for  spoken  information, 
and  "Any  employee  defacing  the  walls  of  this  room  will  be 
immediately  discharged"  for  written  information,  and  if  a 
foreman  made  the  first  statement  acting  on  his  own  authority, 
he  gave  the  information,  and  if  he  got  the  second  notice  from 
the  general  manager  and  posted  it  up,  he  transmitted  it. 

The  General  Responsibility  Due  to  Direct  Relations  Set 
up  by  the  Organization. — Any  foreman  has  certain  responsi- 
bilities for  seeing  that  some  things  are  done  that  reach  out- 
side of  his  department.     He  is  "at  one  end  of  the  wire,"  and 
the  fellow  at  the  other  end  is  somewhere  "outside."     These 
responsibilities  are  of  two  kinds :  the  first  can  be  defined  and 
often  can  be  discharged  according  to  a  known  procedure; 
that  is,  they  are  responsibilities  set  up  by  the  organization, 
and  come  out  of  the  fact  that  a  foreman  is  not  playing  a  lone 
hand,  but  is  a  member  of  a  team.     Because  a  failure  to  dis- 
charge these  supervisory  responsibilities  in  such  a  way  that 
jobs  are  not  killed  is  often  due  to  a  failure  to  take  into 
account  the  human  factors,  these  general  responsibilities  are 
included  in  the  human  factor  block,  but  are  distinguished 
from  straight  cooperative  responsibilities  as  discussed  in  the 
next  paragraph.    For  example,  a  foreman  is  expected  to  turn 
in  a  report  at  a  certain  date,  and  this  report,  combined  with 
similar  reports  from  other  foremen,  is  to  determine  a  matter 
of  policy,  say  as  to  the  taking  on  of  certain  contracts.     He 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  71 

forgets  to  turn  it  in,  although  he  knew  what  it  was  to  contain 
and  when  it  was  due.    As  a  result,  the  job  of  estimating  on 
that  contract  is  held  up  and,  to  assume  an  extreme  case,  the 
concern  is  unable  to  get  in  its  bid  in  time  and  loses  its  chance 
to  make  a  try  for  that  job.    Now,  there  are  two  things  worth 
considering  m  this  case:  First,  he  forgot;  forgetting  is  a 
human  factor,  because  machines  and  material  do  not  forget. 
That  foreman  forgot  because  he  was  a  man  and  not  a  lump 
of  steel,  or  a  ton  of  sugar,  or  a  machine.    Second,  his  slip-up, 
due  to  his  being  alive  and  not  "dead,"  did  not  directly  affect 
his  job  (of  course,  it  might  indirectly),  but  did  directly  kill 
somebody  else's  job ;  in  this  case  the  job  of  the  man  who  had 
to  figure  on  the  contract.     One  member  of  the  team  knocked 
out  the  job  of  another  member  of  the  team.    This  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  failed  to  discharge  a  supervisory  responsibil- 
ity in  connection  with  a  relation  set  up  by  the  organization. 
If  the  organization  had  not  been  such  that  the   contract 
estimator  had  to  wait  for  that  foreman's  report  before  he 
could  go  ahead  with  his  job,  the  foreman's  "human"  slip 
would  not  have  made  any  difference  to  the  estimator's  job 

We  may,  therefore,  say  that  where  there  are  supervisory 
responsibilities  whose  discharge  affects  the  jobs  as  carried 
on  in  other  departments,  where  the  responsibility  is  clear  and 
the  way  of  discharging  it  is  set  up,  we  have  what  may  be  called 
one  form  of  "team  responsibilities"  as  set  up  by  the  organiza- 
tion, and  a  general  responsibHity  under  that  heading  in  the 
human  factor  block. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Cooperation,--C:oopera 
tion    may    be    defined    as    "going    out    of    your    way    to 
help  the  other  fellow  when  you  don't  have  to,"  and  aU  fore^ 
men  have  this  general  responsibility  with  regard  to  the  other 
members  of  the  team. 

In  the  case  of  responsibUities  set  up  by  the  organization, 
as  discussed  m  the  last  paragraph,  a  man  can  be  definitely 
and  specifically  "called  down"  for  not  discharging  them,  but 
m  the  case  of  general  cooperative  responsibilities  this  is  often 


ft  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

not  the  case.  In  the  old  days  of  the  tandem  bicycle  anybody 
who  ever  rode  on  one  of  those  things  with  somebody  else 
knows  how  easy  it  was  for  the  fellow  on  the  back  saddle  to 
fail  to  cooperate  and  yet  prove  all  the  time  that  he  was.  In 
the  same  way  in  many  cases  a  man  may  fail  to  cooperate  and 
even  "throw  all  sorts  of  monkey  wrenches  into  the  gears,"  if 
he  lacks  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  cooperating  with  other 
team  members,  and  he  can  prove  all  the  time  that  he  is  work- 
ing as  hard  to  cooperate  with  everybody  as  a  dog  works  when 
he  tries  to  run  up  a  moving  stairway  that  is  running  down. 
A  man  cannot  be  forced  to  cooperate;  this  is  because  in  so 
many  cases  cooperation  depends  on  the  spirit  and  the  sense 
of  responsibility  for  cooperating,  and  not  on  the  letter  of 
the  law.  Wherever  a  failure  to  cooperate  will  kill  the  job, 
there  has  been  a  failure  in  the  supervision,  and  it  is  usually 
a  failure  in  the  way  that  a  man  supervises  himself.  Suppose, 
in  the  case  put  up  in  the  last  paragraph,  the  foreman  had  not 
forgotten,  but  knowing  that  the  estimating  job  was  a  big  one 
and  a  hurry-up  job,  had  got  in  his  report  ahead  of  time,  and 
so  had  helped  the  estimator  out,  he  would  have  cooperated. 
He  never  could  have  been  called  down  for  not  doing  it;  he 
didn't  have  to  do  it ;  he  was  neglecting  no  relation  set  up  by 
the  organization  in  not  doing  it ;  yet  he  did  it.  Under  the 
circumstances  as  assumed,  he  felt  that  he  had  a  general  co- 
operative responsibility,  which  he  discharged. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  the  Physical  Condition 
of  the  Working  Force.— AH  foremen  include  in  their  super- 
visory responsibilities  some  that  would, properly  be  included 
in  the  general  responsibility  for  the»physical  condition  of  the 
working  force,  and,  as  an  ordinary  thing  these  responsibilities 
as  they  think  of  them  almost  always  have  to  do  with  accident 
prevention,  because  this  is  the  one  responsibility  of  this  kind 
to  which  the  attention  of  foremen  has  been  strongly  directed 
in  recent  years.  There  are,  however,  other  possible  super- 
visory responsibilities  that,  if  they  are  included  in  the  fore- 
man's job,  come  into  this  social  general  responsibility,  such 


MAONG  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  7S 

as  looking  out  for  the  ^ysical  condition  of  the  members  of 
the  force  as  affected  by  disease  or  illness,  so  far  as  these  set 
up  supervisory  problems.  Since,  as  in  the  case  of  coopera- 
tion, attention  has  been  given  more  to  the  managerial  side  of 
this  matter,  and  since  most  of  the  cases  with  which  a  foreman 
has  to  deal  involve  managerial  rather  than  supervisory  re- 
sponsibilities, Jcrfemen,  4S  a  rule,  have  given  little  attention 
to  the  supervisory  side,  except  possibly  in  the  case  of  acci- 
dent prevention. 

If  a  little  consideration  is  given  to  the  matter,  it  will 
appear  that  a  foreman  has  more  supervisory  responsibilities 
in  this  general  responsibility  than  appears  at  first  sight. 
For  example,  as  a  supervisor  he  has  responsibilities  for  seeing 
that  danger  points  are  spotted,  that  special  precautions  are 
taken  when  needed,  as  in  the  case  of  wearing  goggles,  or  masks 
on  certain  jobs.  As  a  supervisor  it  may  be  a  part  of  his 
supervisory  duty  to  be  posted  as  to  the  existence  of  con- 
tagious diseases  among  any  members  of  his  force.  He  may 
be  responsible  for  knowing  where  a  man  suffering  from  a 
progressive,  chronic  disease,  like  "T.  B.,"  has  reached  a 
point  where  he  has  become  a  safety  menace  or  cannot  be 
trusted  to  deliver  the  required  quality  of  product. 

In  all  such  cases,  and  in  many  others,  a  foreman  may  have 
supervisory  responsibilities,  whose  discharge  makes  him  think 
about  the  physical  condition  of  the  working  force,  so  that  it 
is  very  rare  to  find  a  foreman's  job  that  does  not  include  a 
general  responsibility  under  this  classification  heading. 

The  great  difficulty  here  is  to  distinguish  clearly  between 
supervisory  and  managerial  responsibilities  in  this  connec- 
tion, because  in  so  many  practical  cases  the  two  merge  into 
each  other. 

The  following  test  should  help  in  making  this  distinction. 
Any  responsibility  whose  discharge  makes  a  foreman  think 
about  the  physical  condition  as  such  is  supervisory.  Any 
responsibility  whose  discharge  makes  him  think  what  he  can 
do  about  it  to  improve  conditions  is  managerial.    If,  in  con- 


n 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


sidering  any  responsibility  about  which  he  is  in  doubt,  a  fore- 
man will  ask  himself  the  question,  "Do  I  think  about  the  con- 
dition or  about  how  to  change  the  condition?"  he  will  not  go 
far  wrong.  In  case  of  sudden  illness,  is  he  responsible  for 
knowing  about  it?  What  can  he  do  about  it?  Is  he  respon- 
sible for  knowing  that  a  certain  belt  is  dangerous?  What  can 
he  do  about  it  to  reduce  that  danger  to  a  minimum  or  to 
cut  it  out  entirely?  If  the  question  is  put  in  this  way,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  distinguish  between  managerial  and  super- 
visory responsibilities. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  the  Mental  Attitude  of 
the  Working  Force.— As  already  explained,  this  means  super- 
visory responsibilities  for  morale.  This  question  of  morale  is 
taken  up  in  a  later  chapter,  but  for  all  purposes  here  may  be 
defined  as  the  state  of  mind  of  the  members  of  the  team  with 
regard  to  the  success  or  failure  of  the  team  job.  The  great 
difficulty  here  is  the  same  as  in  the  case  discussed  in  the  last 
paragraph,  and  it  must  be  thought  of  in  the  same  way.  Has 
a  foreman  a  general  responsibility  for  morale?  Has  he 
responsibilities  whose  discharge  makes  him  think  of  morale 
as  it  is?  Is  he  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  condition  of 
morale?  Should  he  know  where  individual  workers  have  a 
poor  morale?  Is  it  a  part  of  his  duty  to  know  the  "high" 
and  the  "low"  morale  "points"  in  his  force?  If  he  has  re- 
sponsibilities of  this  kind,  he  has  some  sort  of  general  respon- 
sibility for  the  mental  attitude,  or  morale,  of  the  working 
force  for  which  he  is  responsible. 

Of  course,  there  is  no  question  that  all  foremen  do  have 
responsibilities  of  this  kind  and  that  they  do  give  them  the 
most  serious  consideration ;  in  fact,  these  two  general  respon- 
sibilities taken  from  both  the  managerial  and  the  supervisory 
side  probably  disturb  most  foremen  more  than  all  the  rest 
of  their  job. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Instruction.— This  gen- 
eral responsibility  includes  any  responsibility  for  seeing  that 
any  instruction  that  ought  to  be  given  is  given.     It  might 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  SUPERVISORY  JOB  75 

include  giving  definitely  planned  instruction  or  seeing  that 
such  instruction  was  given.  It  might  cover  responsibilities 
for  organizing  instruction,  as  where  it  was  up  to  a  foreman 
to  lay  out  a  shop  course  for  apprentices.  In  general  any 
responsibilities  whose  discharge  makes  a  man  think  about 
organized  instruction,  if  they  were  included  in  the  foreman's 
job,  would  mean  that  he  had  this  general  responsibility.  * 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  a 
foreman  may  not  have  this  general  responsibility  at  all;  in 
such  cases  this  is  true  because  there  is  no  responsibility  for 
any  sort  of  instruction  included  in  the  foreman's  job. 

The  General  Responsibility  for  Cooperating  with  other 
Training  Agencies.— This  general  responsibility  is  one  that 
all  foremen  include  in  their  duty  without  thinking  much  about 
it.  Any  foreman,  for  example,  will  advise  an  ambitious  man 
where  he  may  get  special  training,  if  he  knows  anything  about 
it  himself,  but  how  many  do?  How  many  foremen  have 
taken  the  time  and  trouble  to  really  find  out  what  are  the 
educational  and  training  opportunities  in  the  community  that 
are  worth  anything,  and  how  they  may  be  taken  advantage 
of,  so  that  they  can  help  their  men  to  advantage?  Where  a 
training  scheme  has  been  set  up  in  a  plant,  in  how  many  cases 
have  the  foremen  neglected  no  chance  to  throw  it  down 
instead  of  helping  it  to  succeed,  when  they  really  knew  nothing 
about  it?  Some  vocational  schools  do  give  good  trade  train- 
ing) yet  there  are  many  cases  where  foremen  who  never  had 
been  in  such  a  school  and  knew  nothing  about  it  would  refuse 
to  employ  a  young  fellow  who  had  had  some  training  there 
just  because  he  was  "one  of  those  no-good  vocational 
school  dummies." 

If  a  foreman  feels  that  it  is  any  part  of  his  job  to  help 
his  men  to  get  ahead  or  to  help  outside  agencies  to  do  a  good 
job,  he  has  a  general  responsibility  under  this  heading;  if 
he  does  not  feel  that  way,  he  has  no  responsibility  here.    Since 

•Since  the  question  of  instruction  is  taken  up  in  Part  IX,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  go  into  the  matter  here. 


76 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


this  is  a   cooperative  responsibility,  the  matter  is  in  his 
own  hands.* 

Conclusion  and  Summary.— This  chapter  has  explained 
the  classification  system  adopted  in  this  book  for  analyzing 
a  supervisory  job  as  far  as  the  division  of  supervisory  respon- 
sibilities into  general  responsibilities. 

As  described  in  a  later  chapter,  the  analysis  can  be  carried 
to  a  much  finer  point,  and,  where  time  permits,  this  is  often 
advisable.  Before  going  into  that  matter,  however,  it  seems 
advisable  to  show  how  a  given  foreman  can  use  this  method  as 
developed  to  this  extent  in  making  a  general  responsibility 
lay-out  for  his  own  particular  supervisory  job,  which  is  done 
in  the  next  chapter.  Following  chapters  then  take  up  the 
further  development  of  the  classification  scheme  and  show 
how  it  can  be  used  in  making  a  much  more  finely  worked-out 
analysis  for  the  job  of  any  particular  foreman. 

*  Since  this  matter  is  also  discussed  in  some  detail  in  Part  IX,  it  is 
oot  carried  further  here. 


CHAPTER  V 

MAKING  THE  SUPERVISORY  LAY-OUT  FOR  THE 

JOB  OF  A  GIVEN  FOREMAN 

SECTION  I.   PKELIMINAEY 

Preliniinary.^The  last  chapter  explained  and  discussed 
the  way  in  which  supervisory  responsibilities  could  be  clas- 
sified, and  gave  the  analysis  scheme  down  to  general  responsi- 
bilities, without  regard  to  the  application  of  this  analysis 
scheme  to  the  job  of  any  given  foreman.  This  chapter  points 
out  how  a  foreman  can  use  this  scheme  in  making  a  general 
supervisory  lay-out  of  his  own  particular  job  in  his  own 
special  department,  according  to  the  organization  in  the  par- 
ticular plant  in  which  he  is  employed. 

The  Object  of  the  Analysis.— It  has  already  been  pointed 
out  that  one  of  the  first  things  that  any  supervisor  who  wishes 
to  study  his  job  must  do  is  to  get  his  supervisory  job  "lined 
up,"  and  that,  in  order  to  do  that  he  must  "take  account  of 
stock"  or  "take  an  inventory"  of  the  different  responsibilities 
that  make  up  his  job.  Since  the  jobs  of  different  foremen 
vary  as  to  their  general  responsibilities,  each  foreman  must 
take  account  of  stock  for  his  own  special  job.  He  cannot  go 
by  anybody  else's  job,  although  it  is  generally  true  that,  so 
far  as  general  responsibilities  go,  foremen  in  the  same  plant 
will  have  about  the  same  lay-out  for  general  responsibilities, 
the  main  differences  coming  when  the  analysis  is  carried  down 
to  a  finer  point,  as  is  taken  up  in  later  chapters. 

It  is  only  by  working  on  the  basis  of  such  a  general  re- 
sponsibility lay-out  that  a  foreman  can  carefully  consider 
what  his  special  problems  are  and  how  to  deal  with  them 
effectively.  The  object  of  this  chapter  is,  therefore,  to  de- 
scribe the  method  of  securing  such  a  general  supervisory 
lay-out  for  a  given  foreman's  supervisory  job  by  pick- 
ing   out    from    all    the    possible    general    supervisory    re- 

77 


;5 


^ 


il 


i 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


sponsibilities  those  that  belong  in  the  particular  supervisory 
job  under  consideration. 

The  General  Method  of  Carrying  on  the  Analysis. — ^The 
analysis  is  carried  out  by  getting  answers  to  the  three  follow- 
ing questions  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  given  here : 

1.  What  fields  are  included  in  the  supervisory  job? 

2.  What  blocks  are  included  in  the  fields  that  are  repre- 
sented in  the  supervisory  job? 

3.  Wliat  general  responsibilities  are  included  in  the  blocks 
that  go  with  the  different  fields  that  are  represented  on 
the  job? 

That  is,  first  "spot"  fields,  then  blocks  in  fields,  then  gen- 
eral responsibilities  in  blocks. 

The  Two  Methods. — There  are,  in  general,  two  methods 
of  carrying  out  any  analysis  which  may,  for  convenience,  be 
called  the  "cafeteria  method"  and  the  "special  order  method," 
as  we  use  them  in  getting  a  meal  in  a  restaurant,  and,  since 
both  methods  may  be  used,  they  are  described  more  fully  in 
the  following  paragraphs. 

The  "Cafeteria  Method." — ^When  we  go  into  a  cafeteria 
we  find  a  posted  bill-of-fare  that  somebody  has  worked  out 
on  a  classified  basis — soup,  fish,  entrees,  roasts,  pastry,  etc. 
That  is,  we  find  a  classified  list  of  possibilities ^  and  we  pick 
out  what  we  happen  to  fancy,  or  what  we  can  afford,  from 
that  list  of  possibilities.  If  the  cafeteria  is  a  large  one,  we 
can  find  in  this  list  of  possibilities  practicaUy  anything  that 
anybody  would  want.  Of  course,  sometimes  the  list  is  incom- 
plete, and  we  will  ask  if  they  have  something  that  is  not  on 
the  posted  bill,  but,  as  a  rule,  we  can  find  what  we  want  some- 
where on  the  bill-of-fare.  No  one  customer  "eats  through" 
the  whole  possible  lay-out. 

The  principle  of  the  "cafeteria"  method  is,  therefore, 
based  upon  selecting  from  a  given  list  of  possibilities,  and  so 
making  up  a  "special  meal."  Its  success  evidently  depends 
upon  the  fact  that  somebody  has  done  part  of  the  thinking 
for  the  customers. 


LAY-OUT  FOR  THE  JOB  OF  A  GIVEN  FOREMAN  79 

The  "Special  Order  Method."— There  is  another  way  in 
which  a  meal  may  be  made  up.    Where  there  is  no  bill-of-fare 
to  select  from,  and  we  do  all  the  thinking  ourselves.     We 
don't  look  at  the  "card,"  even  if  there  is  one,  but  we  consider 
what  we  feel  like  eating  and  order  it.     A  man  says,  "I  feel 
like  beefsteak,  fried  potatoes,  coffee  and  mince  pie,"  and 
gives  his  order  accordingly.     Here  there  is  no  list  of  pos- 
sibilities for  him  to  select  from,  but  he  unconsciously  runs 
over  in  his  mind  all  the  possibilities,  accepting  some  and  re- 
jecting others,  his  mind  working  something  like  this :  "I  sup- 
pose that  they  have  got  soup.     Soup?     Don't  want  soup! 
Fish?    Nix  on  the  fish!     Chops?     They  ought  to  have  'em. 
No,  guess  not  to-day!    Next?     Let's  see,  don't  want  roast 
beef.    By  George,  what  I  want  is  a  good  thick  steak !    Any- 
thing else?    Let's  see !    Guess  I  want  fried  potatoes  to  go  with 
that  steak.     Coffee?    Milk?     Suppose  I  can  get  either  here. 
Coffee  for  me  to-day." 

In  this  way  he  "builds  up"  a  special  order,  according  to 
his  own  special  "eating  job,"  and  in  that  way  gets  his  meal, 
making  the  complete  analysis  himself,  working  from  "the  way 
that  he  happens  to  feel,"  and  not  by  selecting  from  any  classi- 
fied list  of  possibilities. 

The  Two  Methods  Applied  to  Job  Analysis.— In  making 
any  sort  of  a  responsibility  analysis  it  is  always  possible  to 
use  either  of  these  two  methods,  provided  there  is  a  classified 
analysis  of  possibilities  available  to  work  out  the  "cafeteria 
method."  If  no  such  "biU-of-fare"  is  avaHable,  the  "special 
order  method"  must  be  used,  of  course,  just  as  the  original 
explorer  had  to  find  his  own  way  through  new  country,  because 
he  could  not  ask  his  way  if  nobody  had  ever  been  there  before. 

Where  such  a  list  of  possibilities  is  available  that  puts  up 
all  possible  cases,  a  man  can  evidently  select  what  goes  with 
his  job  and  in  that  way  ^t  his  job  lay-out.    Where  such  an 


80 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  mS  JOB 


LAYOUT  FOR  THE  JOB  OF  A  GIVEN  FOREMAN 


81 


analysis  is  not  available,  he  must  list  out  all  the  parts  of  his 

job  and  then  classify  them.* 

Relative  Advantages  and  Disadvantages. — The  "cafe- 
teria method"  evidently  has  the  advantage  of  saving  time  and 
effort,  because  it  is  always  easier  to  pick  out  than  it  is  to 
think  out,  and  this  fact  is  the  whole  base  of  the  business  suc- 
cess of  the  cafeteria — a  man  can  get  his  meal  quicker  and  with 
less  thinking.  Hence,  where  the  purpose  is  to  get  the  lay-out 
as  quickly  and  easily  as  possible,  the  cafeteria  method  is  the 
better  one.  On  the  other  hand,  where  no  general  classified 
analysis  is  available,  or  where  each  man  must  handle  his  job 
under  all  sort  of  conditions,  or  where  he  wants  to  think  hard 
about  his  job,  the  "special  order"  method  is  the  better,  and 
should  be  used,  whenever  there  is  time  to  use  it.  It  will  be 
noted  that  in  the  first  case  a  man  works  from  the  top  down, 
considering  the  most  general  classification  headings  first,  and, 
in  the  second  case,  he  works  from  the  bottom  up,  starting  with 
some  detail,  as  coffee  or  pie. 

The  Combination  Method. — ^There  is  a  third  method, 
which  is  really  a  combination  of  the  other  two,  which  uses 
what  may  be  called  the  "Suggestive  Incomplete  Analysis"  as 
a  starter  and  works  on  from  that.  The  use  of  this  method 
will  sometimes  be  seen  in  a  cafeteria  where  a  man,  in  addition 
to  picking  out  what  he  wants  from  the  posted  bill-of-f are,  will 
say,  "Got  any  shredded  wheat.''"  when  that  particular  item 
does  not  appear  on  the  bill.  In  such  a  case  his  meal  is  made 
up  partly  on  the  selective  basis  and  partly  on  the  ^'special 

order  basis." 

The  Method  Used  In  This  Book. — ^To  aid  any  foreman 

who  may  wish  to  make  a  supervisory  responsibility  lay-out 

of  his  job  the  straight  "  cafeteria  "  method  is  used  up  to  the 

laying   out   of  general  responsibilities   and   the   method   is 

described  in  the  following  section.    For  the  further  carrying 

*  This  second  method  as  applied  to  Trade  Analysis  is  fully  described 
in  "The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The  Job,"  Chapter  VII. 


on  of  the  analysis,  into  detailed,  and  specific  responsibilities, 
the  method  is  described  in  Chapter  VII  and  the  way  in  which 
it  can  be  appHed  to  the  job  of  a  given  foreman  is  illustrated 
in  Chapter  XI,  on  the  distribution  of  the  working  force 
and  Chapter  XIII  on  the  handling  of  information,  and  in  a 
number  of  succeeding  chapters. 

Any  foreman  who  may  wish  to  carry  this  work  farther 
will  find  that  he  can  use  the  suggestive  charts  of  possible 
responsibilities  given  in  the  appendix  as  starting  points  from 
which  he  can  work  out  his  own  special  lay-out  by  the  "  combi- 
nation method,"  checking  off  the  detailed  and  specific 
responsibilities  that  he  has  and  adding  any  additional  ones 
that  he  may  have  that  do  not  appear  on  the  charts. 

The  following  section  describes  the  application  of  the 
selective  method  in  making  a  general  supervisory  lay-out  for 
the  job  of  a  given  foreman. 

SECTION  n.  MAKING  THE  GENERAL  EESPONSIBILITY  U^Y-QUT  FOE 

A  SUPERVISORY  JOB 

Preliminary.— This  section  describes  the  method  of  get- 
ting a  supervisory  responsibility  lay-out  for  a  given  fore- 
man's job  by  the  "cafeteria"  or  selection  method,  and  is 
carried  out  by  working  through  three  operations  as  foUows: 

1.  Determining  the  fields. 

2.  Determining  the  blocks  in  the  fields. 

3.  Determining  the  general  responsibilities  in  the  blocks. 
Each  operation  is  carried  through  with  regard  to  the 

special  supervisory  job  under  consideration. 

The  First  Operation— Determining  the  Fields.— This 
operation  is  carried  out  by  determining  whether  the  job  in- 
cludes all  three  of  the  possible  fields,  only  one  of  them  or  any 
two  of  them.  Under  most  ordinary  conditions  a  foreman 
has  responsibilities  in  all  three  fields,  but,  as  already  stated, 
some  plants  have  assigned  supervision  to  one  foreman  and 
management  to  another,  and,  in  some  cases,  instruction  to 


II 


at  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

another  foreman  or  even  to  a  distinct  training  department, 
though,  as  pointed  out  later,  a  supervising  or  a  managing 
foreman  is  rarely,  if  ever,  entirely  relieved  of  all  general 
responsibilities  for  unorganized  instruction.  The  possibilities 
are,  therefore,  that  job  of  a  given  foreman  is,  or  is  not,  in 
the  supervisory  field.  If  it  is  not,  he  has  nothing  to  do  with 
anything  in  this  field,  and  the  rest  of  this  section,  with  the 
corresponding  chapters  on  the  further  detailed  analysis  of 
a  supervisory  job  have  no  interest  to  him. 

In  most  cases,  however,  a  foreman  does  have  supervisory 
responsibilities,  and  where  this  is  the  case,  having  settled 
that  fact,  he  passes  on  to  the  next  operation,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  supervisory  blocks  that  go  with  his  particular 
supervisory  job. 

The  Second  Operation — ^The  Determination  of  Blocks. — 
This  question  is  not  always  so  easy  to  determine  as  the  matter 
of  fields,  because  very  often  a  foreman  has  implied  supervisory 
responsibilities  that  he  has  never  thought  of  as  responsibilities 
and  which,  in  many  cases,  his  superiors  have  never  thought  of 
as  supervisory  responsibilities  either.  For  example,  where  a 
transportation  department  brings  material  to  the  department 
and  takes  it  away,  many  foreman  will  say  that  they  have  no 
responsibilities  in  the  stock  block,  and  will  leave  it  out  of  their 
responsibility  lay-out  for  supervision,  and  their  superiors 
will  often  say  the  same  thing.  When,  however,  they  are  asked 
if,  in  case  somebody  stole  that  material  while  it  was  in  the 
department  the  foreman  would  be  called  down,  they  will  both 
say  "Yes,"  and  admit  that,  by  a  sort  of  common' understand- 
ing, a  foreman  is  responsible  for  looking  out  for  stock  while  it 
is  in  his  department,  although  nobody  ever  told  him  so  in  so 
many  words.  That  is,  there  was  an  implied  responsibility 
there,  as  the  term  was  used  above.  In  deciding  on  the  blocks 
that  go  with  a  supervisory  job,  a  foreman  must,  therefore, 
be  very  careful  to  include  any  blocks  in  which  he  has  impli^ 
responsibilities,  as  well  as  stated  responsibilities,  and  this  is 


LAY-OUT  FOR  THE  JOB  OP  A  GIVEN  FOREMAN  8S 

where  his  chief  difficulty  is  liable  to  come.  The  best  way  to 
test  this  out  is  to  ask  the  question,  "If  anything  happened  in 
connection  with  this  block,  could  I  be  properly  called  down 
for  it,  or  could  I  claim  that  it  was  none  of  my  supervisory 
business,  and  make  good  on  that  claim ;  could  I  successfully 
and  honestly  *pass  the  buck'?"  If  his  answer  is  "Yes,"  he  can 
leave  that  block  out  of  his  lay-out ;  if  "No,"  he  must  put  it  in. 
Working  in  this  way,  by  selection  from  all  the  possible 
blocks,  a  foreman  gets  his  list  of  blocks  for  his  special  super- 
visory job,  or  his  block  lay-out,  and  having  done  this  he  passes 
on  to  the  third  operation,  the  making  of  the  general  responsi- 
bility lay-out  as  described  in  the  next  paragraph. 

The  Third  Operation— Making  the  Classified  General 
Responsibility  Lay-out.— The  general  supervisory  lay-out 
already  given  shows  the  possible  general  responsibilities 
in  each  block.  This  operation  is  carried  out  by  selecting  from 
that  list  those  general  responsibilities  that  belong  in  the 
supervisory  job  under  consideration.  Here,  as  in  the  previous 
case,  the  chief  difficulty  is  likely  to  be  due  to  the  omission  of 
implied  responsibilities,  and  the  same  test  should  be  applied 
in  each  case.  As  a  result  there  is  secured  a  classified  list  of 
actual  supervisory  general  responsibilities,  or  a  general  re- 
sponsibility lay-out  for  that  particular  supervisory  job. 

The  Necessity  for  Getting  a  Correct  General  Supervisory 
Lay-out.— As  will  appear  later,  a  correct  general  supervisory 
lay-out  is  the  key  to  all  the  rest  of  the  work.  It  is  used  to  get 
the  general  managerial  lay-out  as  described  in  the  next 
chapter;  it  is  used  as  the  base  for  getting  the  specific  and 
detailed  lay-outs  for  all  responsibilities,  as  explained  later. 
If  it  is  incomplete,  or  incorrect,  aU  the  rest  of  the  analysis 
work  is  equally  incorrect. 

While  the  job  of  making  a  general  supervisory  lay-out 
appears  to  be  very  easy,  it  is  so  important  to  get  it  right  that 
a  foreman  will  find  that  it  pays  to  work  it  out  very  carefully. 


84 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


A  Sample  of  a  General  Supervisory  Lay-out  for  a  Given 
Foreman. — The  following  sample  will  indicate  what  a  prop- 
erly worked  out  general  supervisory  lay-out  will  look  like 
when  it  is  completed. 


Stock 


Raw  departmental 
In  process 
Finished 


Tools  and 
Equipment 


In  service 


Operations 
and  Processes 


The  Working 
Force 


Operation  control 


Distributing 


Information 


Giving  and  transmitting 
Reporting 


Human 
Factors 


Physical  condition 
Mental  attitude 


This  sample  lay-out  is,  of  course,  for  a  purely  imagin- 
ative supervisory  job,  and  in  no  way  indicates  what  a  given 
foreman  might  get  in  laying  out  his  own  special  job. 

A  Convenient  Lay-out  Form. — ^The  following  form  is 
convenient  for  making  a  general  responsibility  lay-out  for  a 
supervisory  job. 


LAY-OUT  FOR  THE  JOB  OF  A  GIVEN  TOREMAN 

GENERAL  RESPONSIBILITY  LAY-OUT  FOR 
A  SUPERVISORY  JOB 


85 


Nameu 


Department:. 


Plant: 


The  above  job  has  the  general  supervisory  responsibilities  indi- 
cated below. 


STOCK 


TOOLS  AND 
EQUIPMENT 


OPERATIONS 
AND  PROCESSES 


THE 

WORKING  FORCE 


i 


INFORMATION 


THE 

HUMAN  FACTORS 


CHAPTER  VI 
MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB 

Preliminary.— The  last  two  chapters  dealt  with  the  ques- 
tion of  making  the  analysis  of  a  supervisory  job  for  general 
supervisory  responsibilities  and  of  making  a  general 
responsibility  lay-out  for  the  supervisory  job  of  a  given 
foreman.  In  the  same  way  this  chapter  deals  with  the  method 
of  analyzing  a  managerial  job  and  the  application  of  this 
method  of  analysis  to  a  given  managerial  job. 

In  the  following  discussion  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
so  far  as  the  analysis  is  concerned,  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  managerial  and  supervisory  responsibilities  are  dis- 
charged by  the  same  person  or  by  two  different  people,  the 
two  jobs  are  treated  as  distinct  jobs.  If,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  a  foreman's  job  includes  responsibilities  for  both  super- 
vision and  management,  he  first  gets  his  general  supervisory 
lay-out.  If  he  has  only  managerial  responsibilities,  he  must 
use  the  general  supervisory  lay-out  for  the  corresponding 
supervisory  job. 

If  he  cannot  get  it,  he  must  make  it  before  he  can  lay  out 
his  own  managerial  job,  even  though  he  himself  has  no  super- 
visory responsibilities.  This  case  is  so  rare  that  it  is  only 
mentioned  in  case  a  functional  organization  has  been  estab- 
lished between  supervision  and  management. 

Different  Kinds  of  Managerial  Jobs. — ^While,  of  course, 
any  managerial  job  means  doping  out  ways  and  means  for 
discharging  a  supervisory  responsibility  in  such  a  way  that 
cost  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  there  are  several  different 
kinds  of  managerial  jobs,  among  the  more  important  of 
which  are: 

1.  Management  jobs  corresponding  to  routine  supervi- 
se 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB  87 

sory  jobs.  An  illustration  of  such  a  managerial  job  would 
be  to  handle  any  responsibilities  in  connection  with  the  pro- 
tection of  stock,  or  with  the  keeping  up  of  the  working  force, 
so  that  cost  was  held  down  to  a  minimum. 

2.  Management  jobs  dealing  with  the  human  factors,  as 
where  the  problem  is  to  handle  matters  in  connection  with 
discharge,  or  transfers  so  that  interest  will  be  kept  up,  or 
dissatisfaction  will  be  kept  down  to  the  least  possible  amount. 

3.  Management  jobs  dealing  with  the  running  down  of 
production  difficulties,  as  where  the  product  of  a  certain 
operation  or  process  comes  out  wrong,  or  the  quantity  falls 
off,  and  the  managerial  problem  is  to  find  the  cause  and  apply 
the  remedy. 

4.  Management  jobs  dealing  with  emergencies,  as  where 
the  power  must  be  shut  off  in  a  few  minutes  and  the  mana- 
gerial problem  is  to  make  the  most  of  those  few  minutes, 
so  that  the  cost  will  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible. 

For  each  of  these  cases  it  is  possible  to  make  a  lay-out 
that  will  show  all  the  points  that  should  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  dealing  most  effectively  with  the  problem. 
For  example,  in  case  4  the  supervisory  responsibility  would 
have  been  discharged  when  the  necessity  for  the  shut 
down  (say  a  defect  in  the  main  steam  line,  or  a  transformer 
that  was  overheating),  had  been  spotted  before  damage  had 
occurred.  The  managerial  problem  would  then  be  to  deter- 
mine such  things  as  who  should  be  notified,  in  what  order  the 
notifications  could  best  be  given,  what  steps  could  be  taken 
to  get  the  trouble  repaired  as  fast  as  possible,  what  tempo- 
rary arrangements  might  be  made  to  carry  the  plant  while 
these  repairs  were  made  if  that  were  possible,  at  what  stage 
the  job  should  be  turned  over  to  a  superior,  etc. 

In  the  case  of  production  trouble  all  the  possible  known 
causes  can  be  laid  off  with  the  best  order  in  which  these  causes 
can  be  checked  up  in  order  to  save  as  much  material  and 
time  as  possible.     Where  such  information  is  furnished  by 


g8  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

all  who  are  concerned  with  the  work  and  their  experience  is 
*'  pooled  "  and  made  a  matter  of  record  for  everybody,  such 
lay-outs  of  managerial  jobs  may  be  of  the  greatest  value 
to  a  plant,  especially  where  the  plant  is  run  on  a  double  or 
triple  shift  and  different  shift  foremen  have  '  charge  at 
different  times. 

SECTION  n.  THE  ANALYSIS  OP  THE  MANAGERIAL  JOB 

Management  vs.  Supervision. — ^Management  has  already 
been  defined  as  distinguished  from  supervision  so  these  defini- 
tions are  not  repeated  here.*  It  is  worth  while,  however,  to 
again  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  while,  as  the  terms  are 
used  in  this  book,  a  supervisor  is  always  thinking  of  getting 
the  job  done,  a  manager  is  always  thinking  about  things  that 
finally  head  up  into  the  cost  of  those  jobs,  and  this  distinc- 
tion must  always  be  borne  in  mind  in  connection  with  any 
analysis  work  on  managerial  jobs. 

The  Analysis  Scheme  for  a  Managerial  Job. — ^The 
analysis  scheme  as  given  here  is  based  on  the  fact  that  for 
every  supervisory  responsibility  there  is  a  corresponding 
managerial  responsibility  which  must  be  discharged  by  some- 
body,  if  cost  is  to  be  given  any  consideration.  The  scheme  of 
analysis  for  a  managerial  job,  corresponding  to  the  analysis 
for  general  supervisory  responsibilities  as  already  described, 
is  as  follows,  it  being  understood  that  it  applies  to  the 
case  where  a  foreman  either  has  all  managerial  responsi- 
bilities or  managerial  responsibilities  in  addition  to  super- 
visory responsibilities. 

The   General   Responsibility   Lay-out   Determines  the 

General  Managerial  Lay-out. — ^In  view  of  the  statement  just 
made,  it  is  evident  that  the  general  supervisory  lay-out  deter" 
mines  the  general  managerial  lay-out,  so  that  when  we  have 
the  first,  we  also  have  the  second.  The  problem  taken  up  in 
this  chapter  is,  therefore: 

•  Chapter  II. 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB  89 

Given  a  general  managerial  lay-out  as  obtained  from  a 
general  supervisory  lay-out,  to  analyze  a  managerial  job. 

As  m  the  case  of  the  supervisory  analysis,  a  series 
of  operations  are  carried  out,  as  described  in  the 
following  paragraphs  : 

Operations  in  Making  Managerial  Analysis.— The  opera- 
tions worked  through  in  making  the  analysis  of  a  man- 
agerial job  for  general  managerial  responsibilities  are 
as  follows: 

1.  Determining  for  eaoh  general  managerial  respon- 
sibility the  cost  elements  that  affect  the  discharge  of 
that  responsibility. 

2.  In  view  of  these  cost  elements  defining  the  man- 
agerial problem. 

Although  not  strictly  a  part  of  the  analysis,  there  would 
be  no  use  m  making  it  if  there  were  not  added  another  step. 

3.  The  determination  of  ways  and  means  for  dealing  with 
that  managerial  problem  as  effectively  as  possible— that  is, 
reducing  cost.  As  a  sample  of  what  may  be  called  a  %lank"' 
analysis  scheme  we  have  the  lay-out  as  given  below. 


The  General 

StrPERVISOBT  Re- 
BPONSIBUUTT 


The  Generai, 
.    Managerial  . 
rsbponsibiutt 


Cost  element  No,  1 
Cost  element  No.  2 
Cost  element  No.  8 
Cost  element  No.  4 
Cost  element  No.  5 
Cost  element  No.  6 
,  And  so  on,  J 


Thx 
.  Manaobbial. 

PitOBLiaf 


Dealino  with 

THE 

Problem. 


The  way  in  which  this  scheme  for  analysis  can  be  appHed 
to  the  particular  managerial  job  of  a  given  foreman  is  de- 
scribed in  the  following  section. 

SECTION  m.  MAKING  THE  GENERAL  MANAGERIAL  RESPONSIBIL- 
ITY LAY-OUT  FOR  THE  JOB  OF  A  GIVEN  FOREMAN 
IN  A  GIVEN  DEPARTMENT  IN  A 
GIVEN  PLANT 

Laying  Out  the  Job— Since  the  managerial  responsibil- 
ity can  always  be  obtained  from  the  general  supervisory  re- 
sponsibiHty,  the  procedure  here  is  self-evident  and  needs  no 


m  THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

explanation.  The  difficulties  begin  to  come  up  when  the  at- 
tempt is  made  to  determine  the  cost  elements  that  affect  its 
discharge.  This  is  partly  because  in  many  cases  these  cost 
elements  seem  to  overlap,  they  come  in  on  more  than  one  man- 
agerial responsibility  and  also  because,  in  many  cases,  a  man 
has  never  thought  of  many  of  them  at  aU,  or  as  cost  elements 
in  connection  with  that  special  managerial  problem.  It  may 
be  helpful  in  this  connection  to  point  out  some  of  the 
more  important  general  cost  elements  that  may  come  into 
play  on  any  given  job,  but  not  of  necessity  all  of  them  on 

any  one  job. 

These  general  cost  elements  are  briefly  discussed  in  the 
following  paragraphs  not  because  all  foremen  do  not  know 
them,  but  because,  as  they  come  up  in  practice  they  are  often 
so  concealed  that  it  takes  some  careful  thinking  to  recog- 
nize them. 

General  Cost  Elements. — ^As  has  already  been  stated,  any 
general  managerial  responsibility  can  be  discharged  with 
varying  degrees  of  cost,  according  to  the  particular  way  in 
which  that  managerial  problem  is  dealt  with:  one  man  does 
this  better  than  another,  because  he  may  have  had  more 
experience,  or  has  made  a  better  analysis  of  the  cost  elements 
involved,  or  because  he  is  a  better  "guesser"  in  working  out 
ways  and  means.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  true  that  two 
different  foremen  may  have  the  same  responsibilities  on  the 
same  kind  of  supervisory  jobs ;  both  may  get  out  the  same 
satisfactory  product,  yet  one  foreman  may  get  out  that 
product  at  less  cost  than  the  other,  because  he  has  managed 
with  regard  to  his  cost  elements  to  better  advantage  than 
the  other  foreman.  For  example,  in  storing  departmental 
stock  of  various  kinds,  one  foreman  may  so  arrange  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  that  each  kind  is  put  by  itself  and  so  labeled  that 
the  chance  of  any  mix-up  is  practically  cut  out ;  while  an- 
other foreman  may  "pile  it  in  anyhow"  so  long  as  he  gets  it 
under  cover.    The  first  foreman  has  in  mind  the  cost  in  time 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB 


91 


for  whoever  has  to  get  any  particular  kind  of  stock  out  of 
storage,  and  takes  steps  to  reduce  it  to  a  minimum  by 
arranging  and  labeling  the  different  kinds  of  stock  in  some 
effective  manner.  The  second  foreman  fails  to  recognize  that 
cost  element  and  raises  his  cost  on  that  responsibility  higher 
than  he  should. 

Again,  one  foreman  may  be  careful  to  see  that  all  equip- 
ment units  that  are  in  service  are  running  at  full  duty ;  they 
are  either  doing  a  full  job  or  are  shut  down.  Another  fore- 
man, under  the  same  conditions,  runs  his  whole  equipment  at 
half  or  two-thirds  capacity.  The  first  foreman  has  man- 
aged his  power  cost  elements  on  that  particular  part  of  his 
job  better  than  the  second  foreman. 

Again,  of  two  foremen,  one  is  careful  not  to  put  a  "high 
priced  man"  on  a  "low  priced  job,"  so  saving  on  the  excess 
knowledge  and  skill  that  is  not  required  on  the  low  priced 
job,  while  the  second  foreman  distributes  his  men  any  way 
so  long  as  each  man  "knows  enough  for  the  job."  Number 
one  has  managed  better  than  number  two,  because  he  has 
recognized  the  elements  of  labor  cost  and  has  cut  out  the 
unnecessary  cost  of  the  unused  knowledge  and  skill  that  is  of 
no  value  on  the  low  skilled  job,  yet  must  be  paid  for. 

In  these  illustrations  it  is  evident  that  the  first  foreman 
recognized,  in  connection  with  his  responsibility  points  some 
cost  elements  that  the  second  foreman  did  not.  We  can  call 
these  things  cost  factors  or  cost  elements,  and  it  is  evident 
that  successful  or  unsuccessful  management  will  depend  to  a 
large  extent  on  the  degree  to  which  the  analysis  took  into 
account  all  of  the  cost  elements  that  came  in  to  the  man- 
agerial problem. 

The  Value  of  a  Complete  Analysis.— While  it  must  be 
admitted  that  in  many  cases,  especially  in  dealing  with  human 
factors  in  the  more  detailed  way  that  is  discussed  in  later 
chapters  working  out  a  complete  analysis  is  extremely  diffi- 


•i  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

cult,  still  the  fact  remains  that  the  more  complete  the 
analysis  the  better  the  chance  of  doing  a  good  managerial 
job.  In  carrying  the  analysis  as  far  as  possible  for  general 
managerial  responsibilities  there  are  certain  cost  elements  of 
which  any  or  all  may  come  into  any  managerial  problem,  and 
which  are  therefore  given  in  the  following  paragraph. 

General  Cost  Elements. — Among  the  more  important 
cost  elements  that  need  to  be  watched  out  for  are : 

1.  The  cost  of  material. 

2.  The  cost  of  power. 

3.  The  cost  of  equipment  and  of  depreciation. 

4.  The  cost  of  knowledge,  skill  and  strength  as  provided 
by  the  members  of  the  working  force. 

5.  The  cost  of  handling  information. 

6.  The  cost  of  injury  or  poor  physical  condition  on  the 
part  of  the  members  of  the  working  force. 

7.  The  cost  of  low  morale. 

8.  The  cost  of  poor  instruction. 

Of  course,  these  are  not  all,  but  they  are  enough  to  sug- 
gest others,  and  the  degree  to  which  such  general  cost  ele- 
ments are  properly  taken  into  consideration  in  dealing  with 
general  managerial  problems  will  determine,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  effectiveness  of  the  managerial  work. 

Determining  Cost  Elements. — ^Knowing  the  general  man- 
agerial responsibilities,  the  next  step  in  making  the  analysis 
of  a  given  managerial  job  is  to  determine  the  general  cost 
elements  that  go  with  each  general  managerial  responsibility, 
and  this  listing  should  be  worked  out  with  great  care  to  make 
it  as  complete  as  possible.  When  this  has  been  done  we  have  a 
cost  element  lay-out  for  each  general  managerial  respon- 
sibility. When  this  has  been  done  the  next  operation  is 
to  define  the  managerial  problem  for  each  general  man- 
agerial responsibility. 

Difficulties  in  Locating  Cost  Elements. — ^In  carrying  out 
the  process  of  locating  and  assigning  cost  elements,  usually 


MAKING  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB  gs 

a  foreman  will  find  it  difficult  to  locate  them  all.    This  is  due 
to  several  reasons,  among  which  are: 

(1)  He  has  been  working  to  reduce  certain  cost  elements 
so  long  that  he  is  doing  it  unconsciously,  and  finds  it  difficult 
to  lay  them  out,  just  as  any  good  workman  will  find  it  difficult 
at  first  to  set  down  what  he  does  when  he  does  a  job. 

(2)  Many  cost  elements  have  not  occurred  to  him  as 
cost  elements.  For  example,  many  foremen  have  never  given 
serious  consideration  to  the  cost  of  training  a  new  man  to 
replace  one  who  has  quit ;  that  is,  discharge  cost,  or  the  cost 
elements  involved  in  decent  sanitary  conditions,  or  modern 
surroundings,  as  discussed  in  later  chapters. 

(3)  Many  cost  elements  that  he  recognizes,  he  thinks  at 
first,  have  nothing  to  do  with  his  job,  such,  for  example,  as 
the  cost  elements  of  accidents  around  the  plant,  but  not  in 
his  department. 

As  he  studies  into  the  matter,  he  will  find  usually  a  num- 
ber of  cost  elements  to  which  he  had  not  been  giving  consid- 
eration and  in  proportion  as  he  does  uncover  such  elements 
he  is  able  to  improve  his  work  on  the  managerial  side  of 
his  job. 

The  Necessity  of  Knowing  all  Cost  Elements  for  Good 
Management. — ^Just  as  it  was  pointed  out  in  Section  II  that 
a  good  supervisor  will  know  all  his  supervisory  jobs,  so  a 
good  manager  will  know  all  the  cost  elements  that  affect  each 
of  his  special  responsibility  points,  and  in  the  long  run  his 
management  will  be  good  in  proportion  as  he  is  able  to  do 
this.  His  problem,  as  a  manager,  therefore,  is  to  know, 
first,  the  cost  elements  on  each  of  his  responsibility  points, 
and  second,  to  figure  out  how  he  can  handle  each  situation  so 
as  to  reduce  his  cost  to  the  minimum. 

Management  on  Cost  Elements — Balancing  Cost  Ele- 
ments.—Rarely  will  it  be  found  that  only  one  cost  element 
goes  with  any  ono  responsibility  point.     Usually  there  are 


ii  THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

several.  In  managing,  the  foreman  should  take  them  all 
into  consideration,  determine  what  he  can  do  under  his 
working  conditions,  and  "balance  up"  according  to  his 
best  judgment. 

The  lay-out  of  responsibilities  and  the  corresponding 
cost  elements  will  help  him  to  define  his  managerial  job,  but 
nothing  can  take  the  place  of  judgment  in  handling  the  mat- 
ter so  as  to  get  the  best  results. 

No  fixed  set  of  rules  can  be  followed,  because,  as  a  rule, 
no  managerial  situation  ever  comes  up  exactly  the  same 
twice  in  succession.  However,  one  of  the  common  causes  of 
less  than  the  best  judgment  is  due  to  not  knowing,  and  so  not 
taking  into  consideration,  all  the  cost  elements. 

Defining  the  Managerial  Problem. — This  operation 
merely  consists  in  stating  in  as  definite  and  simple  words  as 
possible  exactly  what  should  be  done  to  the  particular  cost 
elements  in  order  to  secure  the  best  possible  managerial 
results.  When  this  has  been  done  the  general  managerial 
problem  has  been  defined. 

Dealing  with  the  General   Managerial  Problem. — The 

last  operation  in  making  the  lay-out  is  to  consider  ways  and 
means  for  dealing  with  the  problem.  This  last  operation  is 
not  really  a  part  of  the  analysis,  that  is,  of  "lining  up  the 
job,"  but  practically  it  is  always  the  final  outcome  of  the 
problem,  because  the  only  reason  that  a  man  would  have  for 
making  such  a  lay-out  would  be  because  he  wanted  to  see  how 
he  could  handle  the  job  in  the  best  way  or  how  he  could  handle 
it  better  than  he  had  been  doing  it.  The  way  that  such  a  lay- 
out would  look  is  indicated  in  the  following  sample : 


MA£IN6  THE  ANALYSIS  OP  A  MANAGERIAL  JOB  95 

A    SAMPLE    OF    A    6ENEAAL    MANAGEEIAL    LAY-OUT* 

The  cost  elements  that 

come  into  this  man- 

r*  «  «  «  «  «  1  agerial  problem  are : 

It  e  n  e  r  a  1  man-  it  ^    ^     i 

,  1.  Lioss  of  stock. 

a  g  e  r  1  a  1  re-  o    T  r  j.-       •    i       t 

sponsibility  as  ^'  ^^^^^  ^^  ^e  m  hand- 
.  ^  .  Img  stock. 

3.  Using  too  much  or 
too  expensive 
power  in  taking 
care  of  raw  de- 
partmental stock, 
etc. 


General  Supervi- 
s  o  r  y  Respon- 
sibility  for 
raw  depart- 
mental stock 


handling 
raw  depart- 
mental  stock. 


The  managerial  problem  is: 
To  reduce  to  a  minimum 
losses  in  handling  raw  de- 
partmental stock  due  to 
any  form  of  loss,  time  lost 
in  handling  and  failure 
to  use  the  most  effective 


Means  of  deahng  with  the 
problem  are: 

Since  this  calls  for  "job 
knowledge,"  it  is  not  at- 
tempted to  fill  it  out,  but 
the  particular  means 
adopted  would  be  indi- 
cated here. 


methods    in    looking    out 

for  it. 

Ways  of  Laying  out  a  General  Managerial  Job.— There 
are  a  number  of  ways  of  laying  out  a  general  managerial  job, 
among  which  perhaps  the  most  convenient  is  some  such  form 
as  is  suggested  below: 

*  It  must  be  understood  that  this  sample  makes  no  pretentions  to  be 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

LAY-OUT  FOR  A  GENERAL  MANAGERLAL  JOB 

GENERAL  * 

MANAGERUL      

RESPONSIBILITY   


COST  1. 

ELEMENTS 


2. 


8. 


5. 


MANAGERIAL 
PROBLEM 


DEALING  WITH 
THE  PROBLEM 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS 

SECTION   I.    INTO   SPECIFIC   AND   DETAILED    EESPONSIBIUTIES 

Preliminary. — The  preceding  chapters  gave  the  scheme  of 
analysis  and  dealt  with  the  application  of  the  principles  of 
job  analysis  to  the  different  foreman's  fields,  down  to  the 
point  of  general  managerial,  supervisory  and  instructional 
responsibilities.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  careful  consid- 
eration and  discussion  of  foremen's  responsibilities  and  prob- 
lems require  that  either  all  of  a  foreman's  job  or  some  block 
or  general  responsibility  be  further  analyzed.  These  further 
analyses  are  developed  in  a  number  of  the  following  chapters, 
and  this  chapter  describes  how  general  responsibilities  can  be 
subdivided  according  to  the  further  extension  of  the  classified 
scheme  whenever  such  finer  subdivisions  may  be  desirable. 

The  Further  Development  of  the  Analysis. — The  further 
development  of  the  analysis  of  general  supervisory  responsi- 
bilities is  carried  on  by  working  through  the  following  addi- 
tional operations : 

1.  The  general  responsibility  under  consideration  is  di- 
vided into  specific  responsibilities, 

2.  The  specific  responsibilities  are  in  turn  divided  into 
detailed  responsibilities, 

3.  If  desirable,  any  given  detailed  responsibility  can  be 
analyzed  into  responsibility  points,  and  these  can  be  classi- 
fied as  human  or  machine  responsibility  points. 

The   following   sections   describe   each   of  these   opera- 
tions in  turn,  together  with  their  application  to  the  fur- 
ther analysis  of  general  supervisory,  managerial  and  in- 
structional responsibilities. 
-7  97 


98 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS 


vV 


SECTION  n.  ANALYZING  A  GENERAL   RESPONSIBILITY  INTO  SPE- 
CIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES 

Specific  Responsibilities — The  Fourth  Operation  in  the 
Analysis. — If  we  consider  all  the  different  responsibilities 
that  may  come  into  any  given  general  responsibility,  we  find 
that  while  they  all  are  alike  in  a  general  way  they  vary  in  the 
purpose  for  which  the  responsibility  is  discharged  and  also 
that  they  are  carried  out  in  a  number  of  different  ways  and 
their  proper  discharge  calls  for  the  use  of  different  kinds  of 
auxiliary  information.  Responsibilities  in  any  given  general 
responsibility  can,  therefore,  be  "bunched"  or  classified  ac- 
cording to  their  different  purpose  and  the  sort  of  auxiliary 
information  that  goes  with  them.  For  example,  in  the  case 
of  a  general  responsibility  for  raw  departmental  stock  one 
kind  of  responsibility  included  in  that  particular  general 
responsibility  might  be  to  inspect  previous  to  acceptance  and 
another  might  be  to  store  so  as  to  protect  from  damage. 
These  two  supervisory  responsibilities  would  evidently  be  at- 
tended to  for  different  purposes  and  would  call  for  a  different 
brand  of  "job  knowledge."  In  fact,  a  man  might  know  how 
to  attend  to  storage  very  well  and  not  know  how  to  attend  to 
inspection  at  all,  because  he  might  not  know  how  to  make  the 
inspection  test.  In  the  same  way,  in  the  general  responsi- 
bility for  reporting,  two  different  responsibilities  might  be 
reporting  to  immediate  superiors  and  to  a  special  depart- 
ment, and  evidently  the  purpose  for  which  a  report  is  made 
to  an  immediate  superior  and  to  a  special  department  would 
not  be  the  same,  and  the  sort  of  information  required  to  dis- 
charge these  two  specific  responsibilities  would  be  different.* 
A  specific  responsibility  can,  therefore,  be  defined,  as  in  the 
following  paragraph: 

•It  should  be  clear  that  the  different  information  referred  to  is  not 
information  contained  in  the  reports,  but  information  about  to  whom 
they  were  to  go  to,  when  they  were  due,  etc.  Two  reports  might  con- 
tain the  same  identical  information  and  still  seeing  that  they  were 
attended  to  might  be  specific  responsibilities  that  would  belong  in  two 
different  groups. 


Specific  Responsibility  Defined.— As  the  term  is  used 
here,  a  given  specific  responsibility  would  include  all  responsi- 
bilities in  any  given  general  responsibility  which  are  dis- 
charged for  the  same  general  purpose^  but  have  different  ob- 
jects and  therefore  are  discharged  in  different  ways,  calling 
for  a  different  kind  of  auxiliary  information. 

The  Relation  of  Specific  Responsibilities  to  General 
Responsibilities.— The  relation  of  a  general  responsibility  in 
any  block  to  the  specific  responsibilities  in  that  general  re- 
sponsibility is  shown  in  the  diagram  given  below: 


BLOCK. 


GENERAL  REST.      SPECIFIC  REST. 


fNo.  I 


Block 


I 


No.  II 


No.  1 
No.  2 
No.  3 
No.  4 
Etc. 

No.  1 
No.  2 
Etc. 


SECTION  in.  ANALYZING  A  SPECIPIC  RESPONSIBILITY  INTO  DE- 
TAILED RESPONSIBILITIES 

Detailed  Responsibilities.— The  Fifth  Operation  in  the 
Analysis.— Just  as  general  responsibilities  can  be  divided  into 
specific  responsibilities,  so  the  analysis  method  can  be  applied 
to  any  specific  responsibility  to  divide  it  into  detailed  respon- 
sibilities. If,  as  in  previous  cases,  we  study  the  "bunch"  of 
responsibilities  that  belong  in  one  specific  responsibility,  we 
will  find  that  they,  in  turn,  are  not  all  the  same,  because,  if 
we  regard  them  as  "responsibility  jobs,"  all  of  them  do  not 
have  the  same  "specifications" ;  that  is,  each  responsibility  re- 
quires, for  its  discharge,  a  different  way  of  going  at  it,  owing 
to  the  particular  results  that  must  be  obtained.  For  example, 
one  specific  responsibility  might  be  (in  the  general  responsi- 
bility for  the  distribution  of  the  working  force)  transferring. 


"i  '^ 


1€0 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


and  this  specific  responsibility  might  include  the  following: 

1.  Promoting. 

2.  Demoting. 

3.  Shifting  from  one  job  to  another  of  the  same  grade, 
which  would  be  three  of  the  detailed  responsibilities  in  the 
specific  responsibility  for  transferring. 

Again,  if  one  specific  responsibility  were  for  protecting 
finished  departmental  stock  while  in  storage,  we  might  have 
any  of  the  following  "responsibility  jobs"  or  detailed. respon- 
sibilities, according  to  the  nature  of  the  stock  in  question. 

1.  Protecting  from  light,  as  in  the  finished  film  depart- 
ment of  a  plant  making  photographic  supplies. 

2.  Protection  from  rats  and  mice,  as  in  a  flouring  mill. 

3.  Protection  from  fire,  as  in  a  powder  mill,  or  an  oil 
refinery. 

4.  Protection  from  theft,  as  in  the  case  of  whiskey  in  a 
bonded  warehouse,  or  stock  in  a  silverware  factory,  or  gold 
in  a  mint. 

5.  Protection  from  moisture  or  water,  as  in  the  case  of 
armature  coils  or  sugar. 

It  is  evident  that,  as  stated  above,  each  of  these  detailed 
responsibility  "jobs"  calls  for  a  different  kind  of  auxiliary 
information,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  precautions  that  must  be 
taken,  and  while  all  are  carried  on  (the  detailed  responsibility 
is  discharged)  for  protection  (the  specific  responsibility), 
the  sort  of  protection  is  different  in  each  case,  and  the  stock 
that  has  to  be  protected  is  different  in  each  case. 

Detailed  Responsibility  Defined. — ^A  detailed  responsi- 
bility, or  a  "responsibility  job,"  can  be  defined  as  follows: 
A  detailed  responsibility  is  one  of  the  responsibilities  in  a  spe- 
cific responsibility. 

The  Complete  Analysis. — ^As  explained  up  to  the  present 
time,  the  complete  analysis  scheme  is  as  follows : 

1.  The  fields  are  determined.    (The  first  operation.) 

2.  Fields  are  divided  into  blocks.  (The  second  operation.) 


THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS  101 

3.  Blocks  are  divided  into  general  responsibilities.  (The 
third  operation.) 

4.  Greneral  responsibilities  are  divided  into  specific  re- 
sponsibilities,     (The  fourth  operation.) 

6.  Specific  responsibilities  are  divided  into  detailed  re- 
sponsibilities,  or  "responsibility  jobs."  (The  fifth  operation.) 

Responsibility  Jobs.— Any  foreman's  job  can,  therefore, 
be  analyzed  into  a  set  of  classified  responsibility  jobs  just  as 
the  production  work  of  a  plant  can  be  analyzed  into  a  set  of 
classified  work  jobs,  and  when  a  foreman  knows  all  his  respon- 
sibility "jobs"  he  has  a  detailed  or  specific  lay-out  of  his  job, 
according  to  whether  he  stopped  the  analysis  at  specific  re- 
sponsibilities or  carried  it  through  to  detailed  jobs. 

SECTION    IV.       THE    ANALYSIS    OF    A    DETAILED    EESPONSIBILITY 

INTO  EESPONSIBILITY  POINTS 

The  method  of  laying  out  a  work  job  into  human  and 
machine  operating  points  has  already  been  described.  In 
the  same  way  it  is  possible  to  divide  any  given  detailed 
responsibility  into  what  may  be  called  "responsibility 
points."  A  responsibility  point  may  be  defined  as  some  one 
thing  that  must  be  looked  out  for  in  discharging  a  detailed 
responsibility.  While  this  further  extension  of  the  analysis 
is  seldom  necessary  the  followmg  illustration  will  show  how 
it  may  be  done. 

The  Analysis.of  a  Detailed  Responsibility  Into  Responsi- 
bility Points.— As  an  example  of  how  such  an  analysis  can 
be  made  the  -following  will  serve  as  an  illustration.  In  a 
chemical  plant  alum  was  made  by  "attacking"  "ore"  (a 
sort  oiB  clay)  with  acid,  the  action  being  carried  on  in  lead- 
lined  tanks.  This  "  ore  "  was  stored  in  bins  located  some 
two  hundred  feet  from  the  attacking  tanks  and  a  work  job 
for  that  department  was  getting  this  ore  in  the  right  quan- 
tity from  the  bins  to  the  tanks,  where  it  was  dumped  on  the 


102 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS 


lOS 


floor  as  close  to  the  tank  as  possible,  so  that  the  men  on  the 
attacking  job  could  readily  get  at  it  in  charging  the  tanks. 

The  foreman  in  charge  had  a  responsibility  job  to  see 
that  this  transporting  job  was  properly  done.  Among  the 
responsibility  points  into  which  that  foreman's  job  might 
analyze  are: 

Point  1.    Seeing  that  men  used  full  shovels. 

Point  2.  Seeing  that  ore  was  not  spilled  on  the  floor  in 
fllling  the  wheelbarrows. 

Point  3.  Seeing  that  wheelbarrows  were  full  before  men 
started  to  wheel  them. 

Point  4.  Seeing  that  material  was  not  spilled  while 
wheeling  it. 

Point  5.    Seeing  that  each  barrow  and  load  was  weighed. 

Point  6.     Seeing  that  ore  was  dumped  in  the  right  place. 

Point  7.  Seeing  that  men  did  not  loaf  on  the  job. 

Point  8.  Seeing  that  the  equipment  was  in  good  condition. 
While  a  careful  analysis  might  show  other  responsibility 
points,  the  above  are  enough  to  illustrate  how  such  an 
analysis  can  be  carried  out. 

Job  Operations  and  Responsibility  Points. — ^It  will  be 
noted  that  many  of  the  responsibility  points  as  given  above 
covered  seeing  that  some  work  job  operation  was  properly 
carried  out,  but  this  is  not  true  for  all  of  them,  for  example, 
point  7.  In  making  such  an  analysis  of  a  responsibility  job, 
which  the  foreman  does,  care  must  be  used  not  to  get 
"switched"  onto  the  analysis  of  the  work  job  which  the  man 
does.  It  will  also  be  of  interest  to  note  that  nearly  all  of  the 
responsibility  points,  but  not  all,  bear  upon  human  rather 
than  machine  operating  points  in  the  work  job. 

The  Work  Job  Analysis  and  the  Responsibility  Job 
Analysis.— In  analyzing  a  responsibility  job  that  runs  par- 
allel to  a  work  job,  one  of  the  best  starting  points  is  the 
analysis  of  the  work  job. 


SECTION    V.    THE  APPLICATION    OF   THE   METHODS   OF    THE   EX- 
TENDED ANALYSIS  TO  THE  JOBS  OF  A  GIVEN  FOEEMAN  IN 
A  GIVEN  DEPARTMENT  IN  A  GIVEN  PLANT 

Making  the  Specific  and  Detailed  Lay-out.— The  start- 
ing point  is,  of  course,  the  general  responsibility  lay-out  for 
the  jobs  of  that  particular  foreman.  He  first  determines  the 
specific  responsibilities  in  each  general  responsibility  as  it 
appears  on  his  general  lay-out  and  so  gets  a  specific  respon- 
sihUity  lay-out.  Sometimes  this  is  as  far  as  he  needs  to  go 
to  get  his  jobs  laid  out  as  closely  as  is  necessary  for  his  pur- 
pose. In  most  cases,  however,  he  must  take  the  next  step  and 
determine  the  detailed  responsibilities  in  his  specific  responsi- 
bilities, thus  securing  his  detailed  supervisory  lay-out. 

In  general,  it  is  not  necessary  to  analyze  all  of  a  fore- 
man's "responsibility  jobs"  (detailed  responsibilities)  into 
responsibility  points,  but  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  do  this 
for  certain  responsibility  jobs.  For  example,  this  might  be 
true  in  making  a  safety  analysis  on  some  work  jobs  in 
a  department. 

The  Detailed  Supervisory  Lay-out.— The  detailed  super- 
visory lay-out  is,  of  course,  made  as  just  described,  by  work- 
ing from  the  general  responsibility  lay-out  for  supervisory 
responsibilities  and  needs  no  further  explanation.  A  sample 
of  a  part  of  such  a  lay-out  may  make  the  matter  a  little 
clearer  and  so  is  given  below,  for  the  general  responsibility 
for  equipment  in  service. 


Equipment 
in  Service. 


Maintenance 


Protection 


Use 


Adjusting 
Repairing 
Condemning 
Inspecting 
[Carrying  Reserve 

Protecting  from  Damage 
Protecting  from  Abuse 


Controlling  Output 
Assigning  to  Jobs 
Balancing  Assigned  Units 
Making  Special  Lay-outs 


IM 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


The  Detailed  Managerial  Lay-out. — The  detailed  man- 
agerial lay-out  is  made  in  exactly  the  same  way  from  the 
detailed  supervisory  lay-out,  as  the  general  managerial  lay- 
out was  made  from  the  general  supervisory  lay-out.  For  each 
detailed  supervisory  responsibility  there  is  a  corresponding 
detailed  managerial  responsibility,  a  corresponding  set  of 
detailed  cost  elements,  a  corresponding  detailed  managerial 
problem  and  corresponding  ways  and  means  for  dealing  with 
that  detailed  managerial  problem. 

In  the  same  way  for  each  specific  responsibility  there  are 
corresponding  specific  cost  elements,  a  corresponding  specific 
managerial  problem,  specific  ways  and  means  for  dealing 
with  that  problem,  all  coming  out  of  the  specific  managerial 
responsibility  that  goes  with  the  specific  supervisory  responsi- 
bility. The  method  of  making  the  detailed  and  specific 
managerial  lay-outs  is  so  plain  that  it  is  not  further  de- 
scribed here. 

The  Specific  and  Detailed  Managerial  Lay-out. — ^If  it  is 
desired  to  go  beyond  the  general  managerial  stage  of  the 
analysis,  while  it  is,  of  course,  quite  possible  to  stop  with  the 
specific  managerial  lay-out,  experience  has  shown  that  it 
rarely  pays  to  do  so.  The  practical  method  is  to  work  di- 
rectly from  the  list  of  general  supervisory  responsibilities 
and  make  up  a  detailed  managerial  lay-out  directly  without 
working  through  the  specific  responsibility  stage.  For  real 
practical  discussion  it  almost  always  happens  that  practical 
ways  and  means  for  dealing  with  cases  on  the  managerial 
side  have  to  be  based  on  detailed  rather  than  specific  man- 
agerial problems  and  responsibilities.  The  specific  stage 
of  the  analysis  does  not  get  sufiiciently  **down  to 
brass  tacks." 

The  Specific  and  Detailed  Instructional  Lay-out. — Just 
as  in  the  fields  of  supervision  and  management  the  analysis 
can  be  extended  through  general,  specific  and  detailed 
responsibilities,    so   a   corresponding   specific    and   detailed 


THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS 


105 


analysis  can  be  worked  out  for  instructing  responsibilities. 
This  can  be  readily  done  by  using  the  chart  in  Appendix  B 
as  a  starting  point  and  following  the  same  general  methods 
as  have  just  been  described  for  the  other  two  fields. 

Methods  of  Making  the  Analysis.— It  has  already  been 
pointed  out  that  in  making  the  detailed  and  specific  analysis 
there  were  two  methods  of  doing  it — ^what  was  called,  for 
convenience,  the  "cafeteria  method,"  or  the  method  of  selec- 
tion, and  the  "special  order  method."  It  was  also  pointed 
out  that  there  might  be  a  combination  of  the  two  methods  by 
using  a  classified  analysis  of  possibilities,  selecting  from  that 
list  all  that  belonged  in  the  particular  foreman's  job  that 
was  under  consideration  (the  cafeteria  method)  and  then 
adding  any  further  responsibihties  that  went  with  the  job. 
(The  special  order  method.) 

Evidently  the  "cafeteria"  method  is  the  easiest  when  it  can 
be  used,  but  the  difficulty  with  it  is  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  secure  a  complete  detailed  analysis,  because 
nobody  can  make  such  an  analysis  except  the  man  who  is  on 
that  particular  job.  It  is,  however,  often  possible  to  secure 
a  fairly  complete  analysis  of  the  more  probable  and  common 
responsibilities  made  up  from  the  responsibilities  reported  by 
various  foremen  in  analyzing  their  own  jobs. 

It  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  for  the  job  of  any 
foreman  to  be  analyzed  as  far  as  general  responsibilities,  but 
for  the  further  extension  of  the  analysis  the  use  of  the 
straight  "special  order"  method  is  a  long  and  difficult  piece 
of  business,  and  if  a  partial  list  of  possibilities  can  be  used 
for  a  "starter,"  the  work  is  made  much  easier. 

The  method  adopted  in  this  book  is,  therefore,  that  de- 
scribed in  the  next  paragraph. 

The  Method  Used  in  this  Book.— Having  in  mind  the 
facts  just  stated  and  also  that  foremen  have  little  spare 
time  at  their  disposal,  the  work  in  this  book  has  been  laid 
out  as  follows: 

It  has  been  assumed  that  any  foreman  using  this  book 


106 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


will  make  his  own  general  responsibility  lay-out  for  his  spe- 
cial jobs  by  following  the  directions  as  given.  So  far  he  will 
use  the  "special  order  method."  For  the  further  extension  of 
the  analysis,  however,  the  book  has  been  written  so  that  for 
all  general  responsibilities  that  appear  on  the  general  respon- 
sibility lay-out  for  any  one  foreman's  job  the  "combination 
method"  can  be  used  by  providing  a  fairly  complete  list  of  de- 
tailed and  specific  responsibilities  for  each  possible  general 
responsibility  in  the  form  of  charts  which  are  given  in  the 
appendix.  These  detailed  analysis  of  responsibilities  arc 
undoubtedly  incomplete  and  possibly  in  some  cases  not  accu- 
rate, they  were  made  up,  however,  from  information  fur- 
nished by  a  number  of  foremen  in  connection  with  con- 
ferences and  discussions,  and  should,  at  least,  get  a  foreman 
started  right  on  the  detailed  analysis  of  his  own  particular 
jobs.    That  is  all  that  they  are  intended  to  do. 

In  making  such  detailed  analyses  of  general  responsibil- 
ities it  is,  therefore,  assumed  that  a  foreman  will  first  check 
off  all  the  specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  that  he  has 
from  the  charts  and  will  then  add  such  others  as  may  go  with 
his  particular  job,  thus  saving  time  and  energy. 

SOME  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  USING  THE  METHOD 

OF  ANALYSIS 


PARTH 

1.  Make  a  departmental  analysis  for  your  department. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  the  payroll  jobs  or  of  the  work  jobs 
that  go  with  one  of  your  departmental  production  jobs. 

3.  Make  operation  analyses  of  several  simple,  everyday 
"jobs"  such  as  opening  a  pocket  knife,  opening  a  door, 
unlocking  a  door,  tying  a  four-in-hand  tie. 

4.  Make  operation  analyses  of  several  jobs  in  your 
department. 

5.  Make  an  analysis  of  any  of  the  following  managerial 


THE  FURTHER  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ANALYSIS  m 

jobs  that  may  apply  to  your  department,  or  of  some  similar 
jobs  that  these  may  suggest. 

a.  An  emergency  shut  down. 

b.  A  case  of  excessive  breakage  in  trucking  inside 
of  the  department. 

c.  A  case  of  a  man  being  seriously  injured  in  the 
yard  where  quick  action  is  needed. 

d.  A  case  where  the  product  of  a  given  job  in  your 
department  is  not  coming  out  of  the  right  quality. 

e.  A  case  where  a  man  should  or  should  not  be  dis- 
charged for  failure  to  obey  orders  or  directions. 

f.  A  case  where  stock  must  be  protected. 

6.  Make  a  general  responsibility  lay-out  for  your  own 
supervisory  job. 

7.  Using  the  "  combination  method  "  and  the  "  sugges- 
tive  list  of  possible  supervisory  responsibilities  "  given  in 
Appendix  B,  make  a  detailed  and  specific  responsibility  lay- 
out (analysis)  for  one  of  your  general  responsibilities. 


PART  ni 
PUTTING  OVER  THE  SUPERVISORY  JOB 


CHAPTER  VIII 
TYING  UP  PROCEDURE^  AND  RESPONSIBILITIES 

Preliminary.— Almost  all  plants  prescribe  some  method 
by  which  at  least  certain  detailed  responsibilities  are  to  be  dis- 
charged.    Certain  reports  are  to  be  made  on  certain  forms : 
records  are  kept  on  cards  or  by  some  standard  device;  job 
tickets  are  made  out  in  a  certain  way.    As  will  be  discussed 
more  in  detail  later,  some  detailed  responsibilities  are  to  be 
discharged  by  reporting  to  somebody,  others  by  making  sug- 
gestions, others  by  direct  action.    This  means  that  while  in 
the  case  of  many  detailed  responsibilities   a   foreman  dis- 
charges them  in  any  way  that  he  sees  fit,  according  to  the 
conditions  that  may  happen  to  prevail  at  that  time ;  in  other 
eases  there  is  prescribed  a  procedure,  that  is,  there  is  a  stand- 
ard way  of  doing  things  that  everybody  is  expected  to  follow. 
In  many  cases  in  connection  with'the  laying  out  of  supervisory 
and  managerial  jobs,  it  is  desirable  to  add  to  some  or  all  of 
the  responsibility  jobs  as  they  appear  on  the  classified  list, 
or  the  analysis,  the  special  form  of  procedure  prescribed  for 
their  discharge.    This  section,  therefore,  takes  up  the  matter 
of  tymg  up  the  detailed  responsibilities  with  the  procedure 
Information  as  to  Procedure.-In  general  there  are  cer- 
tain kmds  of  mformation  that  may  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion m  making  such  an  addition  to  a  job  lay-out.     Among 
the  more  important   of  these  might  be  for  each  detailed 
responsibility : 

1.  Whether  there  is  or  is  not  any  fixed  method  of  pro- 
cedure.   If  so, 

2.  The  method  prescribed  for  its  discharge. 

3.  The  special  material  to  be  used,  if  any. 

What  is  Meant  by  Procedure.— The  term  procedure,  o- 
standard  practice,  as  used  here,  means  whatever  "regu- 
lar    method  is  set  up  in  the  organization  which  all  are 

111 


112 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


expected  to  follow  whenever  a  given  detailed  responsibility  is 
to  be  discharged. 

For  illustration,  when  making  reports  on  stock  on  hand 
to  immediate  superiors,  the  proper  method,  according  to  the 
special  procedure  in  that  particular  plant  might  be  to  make 
all  reports  in  writing,  which  would  be  one  possible  form  of 
procedure,  or  to  make  reports  "by  word  of  mouth"  (verbal 
reports),  which  would  be  another  form  of  procedure.  Again, 
in  connection  with  keeping  up  the  working  force,  in  securing 
additional  men,  one  form  of  procedure  might  be  to  hire  di- 
rectly at  the  gate,  another  to  draw  a  requisition  on  an  em- 
plojrment  department.  For  all  the  different  responsibilities 
that  may  appear  on  the  responsibility  lay-out  of  a  foreman's 
job  there  are  always  corresponding  procedures  of  some  kind 
by  which  those  responsibilities  are  discharged. 

Standard  Practice. — In  most  well  organized  plants  for 
each  responsibility  there  is  a  uniform  procedure  provided  for 
the  discharge  of  each  responsibility ;  that  is,  the  same  respon- 
sibility is  always  supposed  to  be  discharged  in  the  same  way 
whenever  it  comes  up,  no  matter  who  has  it  in  charge. 
In  other  words,  any  given  responsibility  is  always  to  be  dis- 
charged by  the  same  procedure  throughout  the  whole  organ- 
ization. Under  such  conditions  we  have  what  may  be  called 
uniform  procedure,  or  standard  practice.  In  many  cases 
however,  it  happens  that  while  the  responsibility  is  clearly 
defined  the  particular  method  of  discharging  it  has  not  been 
set  up  as  standard  practice  and  each  foreman  discharges 
that  responsibility  according  to  his  own  idea  as  to  how  it 
can  best  be  carried  out,  that  is,  no  standard  practice  has 
been  established. 

The  Advantage  of  Including  Procedure  in  the  Lay-out.— 
Of  course,  it  is  evident  that  this  auxiliary  information  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  supervisory  "lay-out"  itself,  and  the 
lay-out  can  be  complete  without  it.  Among  some  advantages 
in  considering  proper  procedure  in  connection  with  the  super- 
visory lay-out  might  be  the  following : 


TYING  UP  PROCEDURE  AND  RESPONSIBIUTIES  ns 

(1)  It  gives  a  check  up  on  the  degree  to  which  the  pro- 
cedure for  all  responsibilities   is  definitely  laid  out. 

(2)  It  will  be  of  service  in  connection  with  recording 
and  reporting. 

(3)  It  may  bring  out  points  where  the  procedure  is  not 
fully  provided  for  or  where  no  standard  procedure  has  been 
established  and  should  be  established. 

Possibilities  as  to  Procedure.^In  considering  the  relation 
of  procedure  to  detailed  responsibilities,  in  general,  there  are 
three  possible  methods  by  which  any  given  responsibility  can 
be  discharged :  action,  recommendation  and  suggestion,  and, 
according  to  the  practice,  a  foreman  may  discharge  different 
responsibilities  in  any  of  these  three  ways.  It  has  already 
been  pointed  out  that  a  recommending  or  suggesting  respon- 
sibility is  just  as  important  as  an  acting  responsibility,  and 
that  where  a  foreman  is  expected  to  suggest  or  recommend, 
such  responsibilities  should  be  included  in  the  lay-out 

Special  Material.— In  addition  to  setting  up  a  standard 
procedure  most  plants  provide  special  material  in  the  form 
of  forms,  blanks  and  so  on  each  of  which  is  designed  to  be 
tised  in  connection  with  the  disicharge  of  some  specific  respon- 
sibility.   Here  again  there  are  generaUy  three  possibilities. 

(1)  A  standard -material  for  all  departments. 

(2)  Different  standard  material  for  different  de- 
partments. 

(3)  Each  foreman  makes  up  his  own  material. 

As  an  example  of  these  three  possible  cases,  take  the  case 
of  making  a  daily  production  report.  Under  the  first  set  of 
conditions,  a  form  is  provided  for  all  departments ;  under  the 
second  set  of  conditions,  each  department  uses  a  different 
form ;  in  the  third  case,  a  foreman  writes  out  the  mf ormation 
according  to  his  own  special  ideas,  or,  perhaps,  some  foreman 
writes  out  the  information  and  others  go  to  the  ofl5ce  and  teU 
a  cl^k  what  the  day's  production  has  been. 

Tying  Up.— Whatever  the  special  procedure  may  be, 
Since  each  responsibiUty  that  appears  on  the  lay-out  must  be 


114 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


discharged  somehow,  and  any  foreman  knows  either  his  ow» 
special  procedure  or  the  standard  practice,  it  is  an  easy 
matter  to  note,  against  each  item  on  the  lay-out,  the  particu- 
lar procedure  by  which  that  responsibility  is  discharged  by 
that  particular  foreman,  and  when  this  has  been  done  the 
responsibilities  have  been  "tied  up"  with  the  procedure 
and  the  detailed  responsibility  lay-out  has  become,  in  fact, 
an  operating  sheet  for  the  foreman's  job. 

An  Illustration.—Let  it  be  assumed  that  one  detailed 
supervisory  responsibility  in  a  given  foreman's  job  is  to  in- 
spect the  condition  of  all  stock  that  comes  into  the  depart- 
ment and  report  the  results  of  that  inspection  to  his  imme- 
diate superior  by  ten  o'clock  each  morning,  the  inspection  to 
be  for  breakage.  Assume  further  that  this  foreman,  in  mak- 
ing out  his  responsibility  lay-out,  has  used  cards  and  has 
made  a  card  catalogue  of  his  detailed  responsibilitv  jobs. 
The  information  might  appear  on  such  a  card  as  shown  below. 


SUPERVISION 


No- 


us 


Job         Report  on  stock  c?oming  in. 


Nature.         As  to  breakage. 


Report  to ^^-  ^°^'^^' 


Material Form  No.  153-a 


Sr)ecifications         To    be    in    by    ten   o'clock    each    day   until    fur- 
ther notice. 

Remarks .         To  be  attended  to  personally. 


Block M: 


Q^  J^  Reporting. 


Sp.  "R.         To  Immediate  Superior. 


TYING  UP  PBOCEDUKE  AND  RESPONSIBaiTIES         115 

Responsibility  and  Procedure.-In  making  a  responsi- 
b.  ity  lay-out  foremen  are  often  confused  between  responsi- 
bilities   and   methods   by   which   those    responsibilities    are 
discharged  according  to  the  special  procedure  caUed  for  in 
the  particular  plant  in  question.    For  example,  in  many 
plants  where  a  foreman  does  not  have  an  acting  responsibility 
he  does  have  a  recommending  or  a  suggesting  responsibility, 
but  he  IS  apt  to  think  that  because  he  does  not  have  full  acting 
power  he  has  no  responsibility  at  all.     As  an  illustration, 
many  foremen  have  a  recommending  responsibility  for  the 
employment  or  the  transfer  of  men  where  the  actual  action  is 
taken  by  the  Employment  Department,  but  in  such  cases 
there  is  just  as  much  responsibiUty  on  the  foreman  to  dis- 
charge this  recommending  responsibility  as  there  would  be 
II  he  acted  directly. 

In  making  out  a  responsibility  lay-out,  responsibilities 
should,  therefore,  be  included  whether  they  are  acting  respon- 
sibihties    r^cor^Wmgr  responsibilities  or  even  suggesting 
responsibilities.     There  are  even  cases  where  a  foreman  haf 
responsibilities  that  he  has  always  discharged  without  think- 
ing of  them  as  responsibilities  at  all.    For  example,  all  fore- 
men have  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  reduction  of 
accidents   yet  in  many  cases  they  will  not  include  these  re- 
sponsibilities m  their  lay-out,  because  they  have  never  been 
spocifically  told  that  accident  prevention  was  sometW  f" 
which  they  were  responsible;  they  have  accepted  thf  re- 
Ettf  ^  discharged  it  without  thinking  anything 

th.w  "^"^^  "  f fP°'>«Mity  lay-out  a  foreman  should, 
therefore,  be  careful  to  include  aU  points,  regardless  of  ihe 

Er  h'  r^  "  :'"'  *'^  responsibility  is^dischlr^t 

tl2r.  ■  Y"  7  ^*'  °^*  ^"^  ^"*"'*^'y  ^°^^  th»t  the  par- 
ticular point  under  consideration  is  a  part  of  his  job. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  CONDITIONS  OF  EFFECTIVE  SUPERVISION 

SECTION  I.    PRELIMINAEY 

Preliminary. — ^A  foreman  may  have  his  supervisory  jobs 
fully  defined;  he  may  have  listed  out  aU  the  responsibilities 
that  he  considers  go  with  his  job,  under  his  special  condi- 
tions; he  may  have  tied  up  his  different  responsibilities 
with  the  standard  practice,  but  he  still  has  to  consider  how 
he  can  put  his  various  supervisory  jobs  "across"  to  the 
best  advantage. 

This  chapter  takes  up  the  question  of  the  putting  over 
of  supervisory  responsibilities  without  regard  to  the  special 
field  in  which  they  may  lie  whether  the  supervision  be  direct 
supervision  or  human  factor  supervision  as  these  terms  are 
explained  below. 

What  is  Meant  by  Human  Factor  Supervision. — ^As  is 
discussed  in  later  chapters  a  part  of  the  duty  of  any  fore- 
man is  to  observe  conditions  as  to  such  things  as  the  interest, 
the  physical  condition  of  the  members  of  his  operating  force, 
or  their  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  with  their  jobs  or 
with  the  working  conditions.  In  noting  these  conditions  he 
acts  as  a  supervisor  just  as  much  as  he  does  when  he  checks 
up  a  process  or  operation,  or  notes  the  condition  of  a 
machine.  Since  however  in  doing  this  he  is  noting  conditions 
that  are  due  to  human  and  not  mechanical  factors,  this  sort 
of  supervision  may  be  called  human  factor  supervision  to 
distinguish  it  from  direct  supervision  as  taken  up  in  the 
next  paragraph. 

What  is  Meant  by  Direct  Supervision. — ^As  indicated  in 
the  last  paragraph,  a  foreman's  responsibilities  may  be  con- 
sidered as  of  two  kinds,  those  relating  to  securing  production 
by  taking  material,  doing  something  to  it  through  operations 
and  processes,  with  the  aid  of  tools,  equipment,  knowledge, 
skill  and  strength,  and  so  turning  out  a  required  or  standard 

110 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  EFFECTIVE  SUPERVISION  117 

product  and  dealing  with  such  information  as  may  be  re- 
quired m  connection  with  that  work— that  is,  dealing  with 
things  that  are  not  alive.  The  second  kind  of  responsibilities 
are  m  connection  with  what  has  been  called  "the  human  fac- 
tor," mvolvmg  such  things  as  satisfaction  and  interest.  As 
the  term  is  used  here,  direct  supervision  refers  to  those  re- 
sponsibilities that  do  not  deal  with  the  human  factor,  but  do 
deal  with  the  hve  blocks,  material,  tools  and  equipment, 
operations  and  processes,  the  distribution  of  the  working 
force,  and  the  handling  of  information. 

Kinds  of  Direct  Supervision.-In  general,  direct  super- 
vision can  be  divided  into  two  kinds,  as  follows  : 

(1)  Regular,  or  routine,  supervision. 

(2)  Emergency  supervision. 

Regular  or  Routine  Direct  Supervision.— In  any  depart- 
ment, according  to  the  responsibility  lay-out,  there  will  be 
certain  regular  responsibilities  that  go  with  the  job.  As  long 
as  the  character  of  the  work  is  the  same,  these  responsibil- 
ities remain  the  same.  For  example,  a  "regular"  responsi- 
bility might  be  to  inspect  twice  a  day,  the  condition  of  smoke- 
less powder  in  storage.  This  would  be  a  regular  or  routine 
supervisory  job.  Another  regular  supervisory  job  might 
be  to  order  the  starting  or  stopping  of  certain  processes  in  a 
chemical  plant,  as  in  crystallizing  out  a  product  (say,  alum), 
or  in  roughing  off  a  casting  in  a  machine  shop. 

In  all  such  cases  a  foreman  can  determine  by  his  respon- 
sibility lay-out  what  these  regular  responsibilities  are,  and 
his  problem  is  to  cover  them  so  as  not  to  miss  any  of  them 
and  to  cover  them  effectively,  but  "he  knows  what  is  coming 
to  him"  in  aU  cases  of  this  kind  of  supervisory  responsibility. 

Emergency  Supervision.— In  addition  to  the  regular 
supervision  described  in  the  last  paragraph  unexpected  mat- 
ters, or  emergencies  are  continually  coming  up  that  require 
a  foreman's  attention.  This  sort  of  supervision  differs  from 
the  regular  supervision  because  nobody  can  tell  in  advance 
when  it  wiirbe  called  for  and,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases. 


118 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB     ' 


'^■' 


m 


whatever  calls  for  such  emergency  supervision  happens  with- 
out warning  and  calls  for  quick  action. 

A  complete  responsibility  lay-out  would  show  all  the  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  regular  supervision  that  went  with  a  given 
foreman's  job,  but  would  not  show  the  emergency  supervision 
because  nobody  can  tell  what  it  might  be.  It  is  true  that  a 
foreman  who  knows  his  department  can  often  tell  what  are 
the  more  probable  emergencies  that  are  likely  to  come  up, 
because  he  has  had  so  much  experience  in  dealing  with  them, 
but  even  then  he  can  never  tell  when  some  new  one 
may  come  about  for  the  first  time  or  when  any  of  them  are 
sure  to  happen. 

Supervisory  Responsibilities.— A  foreman  has  certain  re- 
sponsibilities of  both  kinds,  regular  and  emergency,  and  this 
chapter  takes  up  some  of  the  more  important  points  as  they 
apply  to  supervision  of  the  ^Ye  blocks  already  mentioned. 

These  Responsibilities  Independent  of  What  is  Super- 
vised.— It  should  be  noted  that  the  points  taken  up  in  this 
chapter  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  particular  character  of 
what  is  supervised,  as,  for  example,  the  particular  nature  of 
operations  or  processes  in  any  given  department,  or  the 
special  kind  of  work  jobs,  or  the  particular  kind  of  units  of 
which  the  departmental  equipment  may  be  made  up.  They 
apply  regardless  of  these  matters,  and  so  affect  all  foremen 
regardless  of  the  special  job  of  their  department.  For  ex- 
ample, they  would  apply  equally  to  the  head  of  the  shipping 
department,  the  foreman  in  charge  of  a  maintenance  de- 
partment or  an  engineering  department,  or  to  the  supervisor 
in  charge  of  any  sort  of  a  production  department. 

SECTION  n.  REGULAR  SUPERVISION 

Two  Important  Points  on  Regular  Supervision. — "So 
matter  what  sort  of  work  is  supervised,  there  are  two  import- 
ant points  that  any  supervisor  should  observe  in  connection 
with  his  regular  supervision : 

1.  His  supervision  should  be  complete. 

2.  His  supervision  should  be  balanced. 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  EFFECTIVE  SUPERVISION         110 

And  supervision  will  be  efficient  if  these  two  points,  or  super- 
visory elements  are  observed. 

Complete  Supervision.— In  connection  with  the  carrying 
on  of  any  piece  of  work,  such  as  a  work  job  in  a  department, 
there  are  certain  points  where  the  foreman  must  do  something 
if  the  work  is  to  continue  to  go  on  at  all  or  to  go  on  right. 
To  put  it  the  other  way,  if,  at  those  points,  the  foreman  does 
not  do  something,  the  job  either  stops  or  goes  wrong.  Such 
a  point  will  be  called,  for  convenience,  a  supervisory  responsi- 
bility point.  Such  a  supervisory  responsibility  point  might 
be  the  necessity  of  seeing  that  a  certain  product  was  up  to 
specifications,  it  might  mean  giving  certain  orders  or  direc- 
tions, it  might  mean  seeing  that  stock  was  renewed  in  time  to 
prevent  the  necessity  for  shutting  down  the  job;  but  whatever 
it  happens  to  be  it  calls  for  some  action  on  the  part  of 
the  foreman. 

Now  there  are,  in  any  given  supervisory  job,  a  certain 
number  of  these  points  that  call  for  some  action  on  the  fore- 
man's part,  and  if  they  are  not  all  "covered"  the  supervision 
is  not  complete.  If,  in  a  given  foreman's  department,  there 
are,  say,  one  hundred  of  these  acting  points,  and  he  only 
covers  eighty  of  them,  he  has  done  a  poor  supervising  job 
from  the  standpoint  of  completeness,  because  he  has  left 
twenty  points  uncovered. 

Complete  supervision,  therefore,  means  that  all  super^ 
visory  responsibilities  are  discharged.  Incomplete  super- 
vision means  that  all  responsibilities  are  not  discharged,  no 
matter  why.  For  example,  if  a  foreman  had  some  supervisory 
responsibilities  in  his  supervisory  job  that  he  never  knew  that 
he  had,  and  so  had  never  discharged  them,  nevertheless  his 
supervision  would  be  incomplete. 

A  plan  for  getting  all  the  responsibilities  in  a  supervisory 
job  is  described  in  other  chapters,  but  however  it  may  be 
got  at,  any  foreman  can  properly  he  held  responsible  by  his 
superiors  for  making  his  supervision  complete. 

Balanced  Supervision.— Jobs  or  processes,  whatever  they 


180 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


llBliliilllii 
"'IHBr 


may  be,  are  carried  on  by  people  of  different  degrees  of  skill, 
intelligence,  reliability,  vary  greatly  in  their  simplicity  or 
difficulty,  are  carried  on  under  widely  varying  working  condi- 
tions and  so  call  for  different  amounts  of  supervision.  There 
may  be  certain  points  on  a  work  job  where  any  slip  will  mean 
a  considerable  loss  or  possibly  loss  of  the  whole  job,  there 
may  be  points  on  other  jobs  where  "the  job  can't  go  wrong 
if  it  tries."  The  time  to  find  the  captain  pf  a  steamer  on  the 
bridge  is  when  there  is  danger  of  trouble,  and  the  time  to  find 
him  off  duty  is  when  there  is  no  trouble  in  sight,  and  the  same 
principle  applies  to  a  foreman.  His  supervision  should  be 
properly  distributed.  He  has  only  a  certain  amount  of  time 
that  he  can  give  to  supervision,  and  it  is  up  to  him  to  dis- 
tribute this  supervision,  or  this  time,  to  the  best  advantage, 
especially  with  regard  to  what  may  be  called  high  and  low 
supervisory  points. 

High  and  Low  Supervisory  Points.— All  points  calling 
for  supervision  can  be  classified  into  what  were  just  referred 
to  as  high  or  low  supervisory  points,  with  regard  to  the  care- 
ful supervision  and  the  amount  of  supervision  required  to 
properly  take  care  of  them. 

For  example,  in  a  paint  mill,  a  drawing  off  job  might 
include  opening  and  shutting  a  gate  on  a  paint  mixer.  If 
the  man  in  charge  of  this  work  did  not  open  the  gate  entirely, 
the  results  would  be  merely  a  slight  time  loss,  not,  of  course, 
desirable,  but  not  very  serious,  but  if  he  failed  to  fully  close 
the  gate  after  he  had  filled  a  container  with  paint  and,  while 
he  took  that  can  away  and  got  another,  more  or  less  paint 
ran  on  the  floor,  the  resulting  loss  might  be  considerable. 
The  responsibility  for  seeing  that  the  gate  was  shut  would  be 
a  higher  supervising  point  than  that  of  seeing  that  it  was 
fully  open. 

In  the  same  way,  in  a  machine  shop,  the  operation  of 
taking  a  rough  cut  on  a  lathe  might  call  for  less  careful  super- 
vision than  the  final  cut  to  accurate  dimensions. 

In  building  a  house,  nailing  on  covering  boards  might  be 
a  low  supervisory  point,  but  building  the  front  stairs  a  high 
one.    The  second  point  for  which  any  foreman  can  properly 


THE  CONDITIONS  OP  EFFECTIVE  SUPERVISION  l«l 

be  held  responsible  is,  therefore,  how  he  distributes  his  super- 
vision with  regard  to  high  and  low  operating  points,  that  is, 
the  degree  to  which  hts  supervision  is  balanced 

Balanced  Supervision.-Balanced  supervision,  as  dis- 
cussed m  the  last  paragraph,  therefore,  simply  means  dis- 
charging each  supervisory  responsibility  with  regard  to  the 
time  and  careful  attention  that  are  required  to  look  out 
proper  y  for  that  special  part  of  the  supervisory  job,  and  is 
evidently  quite  a  distinct  matter  from  completeness,  as  al- 


^  3  4..  5  n  • 

ready  discussed.     A  foreman  might  make  his  supervision 

distributes  his  supervision  equaUy  on  all  responsibS    ht 
supervision  Ime  would  appear  as  in  A,  giving  too  much 
upen^ision  to  responsibilities  2.  4  and  7.  and  not  enough  to 
1, 3, 5  and  8,  only  hitting  it  right  on  6. 

Foreman  B  distributes  his  supervision  with  regard  to  high 

thtirrf '•'  tf  ""if  ^^P^'^^io-  «»«  «hows  thft  he  has  hit 
things  about  right.    Foreman  C,  taking  things  as  they  come 
might  have  a  supervising  line  which,  as  shown!  fails  toy^eto 
any  of  h,s  supervisory  responsibilities  the  proper  value 
whichTvT       "^^  S«pervision.-Thr  t^o  point  for 

tSto^t      '"""•  •"?"  ^  P^^P'^'y  ^'^^  responsible  are, 
therefore,  for  supervision  that  is  complete  and  balanced,  and 


122 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


ii  i 


if  his  supervision  is  either  incomplete  or  badly  unbalanced, 
he  can  properly  be  held  responsible  by  his  superiors. 

Emergency  Supervision.— Section  I  pointed  out  that,  in 
addition  to  routine  supervision,  where  the  responsibilities 
were  all  known,  there  were  always  responsibilities  for  what  is 
called  emergency  supervision. 

In  many  cases,  such  emergencies  cannot  be  foreseen,  but, 
when  an  emergency  arises,  it  is  evidently  the  duty  of  a  fore- 
man to  act  at  once,  so  that  it  is  necessary  that  while  he  is  on 
the  job,  a  foreman  should  never  be  "lost,"  that  is,  it  should 
always  be  possible  for  him  to  be  reached  at  once  by  anyone 
m  his  department.  In  proportion  as  he  takes  measures  to  see 
that  this  is  possible  at  all  times,  he  is  doing  a  good  super- 
vision job  from  the  standpoint  of  emergency  supervision. 

As  an  example  of  this,  it  is  a  standing  rule  in  all  well 
administered  organizations  that  "the  office  is  never  vacant " 
If,  for  illustration,  the  Chief  of  Division  in  a  Government  de- 
partment IS  away  from  the  office  some  one  else  is  always  dele- 
gated to  be  the  Acting  Head,  so  that  some  one  is  always  on  the 
job  with  authority  to  act  in  case  of  emergency. 

A  foreman  can,  therefore,  be  properly  expected  to  always 
see  to  it  that  he  is  not  "lost"  in  the  sense  that  if  he  is  not 
where  he  can  act  in  an  emergency  some  arrangement  has 
been  made  for  some  one  to  act  at  once.  The  job  should  not 
be  left  **vacant.'' 

A  Foreman's  Supervisory  Responsibilities.— In  carrying 
on  his  supervision,  a  foreman  can,  therefore,  be  held  respon- 
sible for  three  things : 

1.  Balanced  supervision. 

2.  Complete  supervision. 

3.  Being  always  on  the  job,  either  directly  or  by  deputy. 
These  three  points  may  be  called  the  elements  of  proper 

supervision  without  regard  to  the  special  lines  of  work  that 
are  to  be  supervised.  The  question  as  to  cost  elements,  man- 
agerial problems  and  suggestion  for  dealing  with  these  prob- 
lems so  as  to  secure  balance,  completeness  and  availability 
m  case  of  an  emergency  are  taken  up  in  the  next  chapter  as 
belongmg  m  the  managerial  field. 


CHAPTER  X 
COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 

ON  SUPERVISION 

tionrforTffT'""^"^'  '".'  ^^^^'^^  P^^"*^^  -*  the  condi- 
essM^^^^^^  -pension:  completeness,  distribution,  ac- 

cessibility to  the  supervisor  at  all  times,  and  stated  that  all 
foremen  could  properly  be  held  responsible  for  so  carrying 

cTre  oTinTor^^^^  "^^'  ^'^^  *'^^^  *^^-  P^^^^  -- TS 
care  oi  m  some  way. 

po  Jt"J  out  St  ""  T'''"^  '^'  managerial  lay-out*  it  was 
pointed  out  that  for  each  supervisory  responsibility  there  was 
a  correspondmg  managerial  responsibility,  that  this  min! 

fd  tSf  X  P"""''  ^^^  ''"'"g  "P  «  manageriil  prob  em. 
and  that  the  managerial  problem  could  only  be  dealt  witt. 

Sop5^  ante  consideration  the  cost  elemLs  S  cll^t 

elemTnts  tXl'^"'"^7'''  "t}''  "?  '^'  ^"^^^o"  "^  the  cost 
trZtio.  „f    ""'rS'™'  P'-.oWems  on  completeness  and  dis- 

su^rstinn  -    f       absence  m  an  emergency,  and  makes  some 
suggestion  as  to  ways  and  means  that  may  be  of  assistance 
o  foremen  m  working  out  their  own  mana^rial  probkms  L 
this  special  part  of  their  job  «"  prooiems  in 

Cost  Elements-<:ompleteness  of  Supervision—Amon^ 
the  more  common  cost  elements  that  ,hnnU  K„  /  J^.ong 
consideration  are:  ^'^™^n'^s  that  should  be  taken  mto 

visoJySTintT  "  '""  "^"^  *°  ^^^""'^  *°  '^''^^  *»  ««P- 


•  Chapter  IX,  Part  II. 


1S8 


:i    '. 


!  ?''*  i 


\W 


'iiii 


I! 


124 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


8.  Additional  cost  due  to  repairing  the  damage  or  loss. 

4.  Time  lost  because  the  worker  knew  that  he  needed 
supervision  and  hesitated  to  go  ahead  without  it. 
And  a  number  of  others  that  will  readily  suggest  themselves. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
is  simply  to  cover  all  points  so  that  excess  cost  due  to  any  or 
aU  of  the  cost  elements  will  either  be  cut  out  entirely  or,  since 
one  cannot  expect  100  per  cent,  in  real  life,  reduced  to  the 
smallest  possible  amount,  that  is,  to  a  minimum. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^It  is  evident  that  any  method 
that  aims  at  dealing  effectively  with  this  problem  must  he 
based  upon  the  fact  that  all  responsibilities  are  known,  since 
responsibilities  that  are  included  in  the  supervisory  job,  but 
that  are  not  known  to  exist,  of  course,  will  not  be  discharged. 
The  first  step  then  is  to  know  all  responsibilities  that  go  with 
the  job  as  completely  as  possible. 

In  doing  this  there  are  practically  two  methods  that  may 
be  called  for  convenience  the  "guess  and  pick  up  method"  and 
the  method  by  analysis,  as  already  described.* 

The  "Guess  and  Pick  Up  Method."— According  to  this 
method  a  foreman  first  guesses  that  he  knows  all  his  responsi- 
bilities and  if  his  guess  is  not  complete  he  figures  that  any 
uncovered  points  will  make  trouble  and  as  fast  as  they  do 
make  trouble  he  can  "pick  them  up,"  and  add  them  to  the  list 
of  responsibilities  that  he  consciously  or  unconsciously  car- 
ries in  his  head.  Working  in  this  way  as  time  goes  on  he 
gradually  buUds  up  a  fairly  complete  list  of  the  responsi- 
bilities that  go  with  his  job,  at  the  expense  of  the  job.  The 
longer  he  is  on  the  job  the  more  experience  he  has  had,  the 
more  likely  he  is  to  come  somewhere  near  finally  knowing 
what  his  responsibilities  are. 

The  Method  of  Analysis. — ^The  second  method  makes  use 
of  the  methods  of  analysis  as  described  in  Part  II.  By  using 
such  a  classified  list  as  is  given  there  and  working  through  the 
method  as  described,  a  supervisory  lay-out  can  be  worked  out 

•Chapters  III  and  IV,  Part  II. 


MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  SUPERVISION 


U5 


to  any  desired  degree  of  detail,  can  be  checked  up  with  other 
foremen,  with  superiors  and  with  any  others  who  may  have 
something  to  do  with  the  job,  so  that  a  fairly  accurate  lay- 
out or  inventory  of  responsibilities  can  be  obtained. 

The  Analysis  Method  the  Better.— The  only  reaUy  effec- 
tive managerial  "tool"  for  securing  complete  supervision  is 
to  use  the  method  of  analysis.  If  this  is  done,  supervision 
can,  if  desired,  be  checked  up  against  a  supervision  schedule 
so  as  to  be  sure  that  practically  all  points  are  covered. 

Disadvantages  of  the  "Guess"  Method.— The  gr^at  dis- 
advantage of  the  "guess"  method  for  handling  balance  and 
completeness  is  that  the  foreman  has  no  guarantee  either 
that  he  has  completely  covered  his  job  or  that  he  has  dis- 
tributed his  supervision  according  to  the  different  require- 
ments of  different  operating  points.     He  has  only  his  past 
experience  and  his  general  notions  to  go  by.     He  "guesses" 
that  Bill  Jones  is  "safe"  for  a  while  and  that  he  has  "to  see 
what  Sam  is  doing."    He  is  liable  not  to  "cover"  points  that 
especially  need  "covering"  and  put  time  on  points  that  do 
not  need  covering.    For  example,  in  a  pressroom  it  might  be 
up  to  the  foreman  to  O.  K.  the  make-up  on  the  press  before 
the  run  was  started.     This  might  require  careful  supervision 
as  the  quality  of  the  whole  job  is  involved.    After  the  run  is 
started  but  little  supervision  is  needed,  and  the  pressman 
knows  when  the  job  is   finished   without   any   supervision. 
Working  by  "guess"  the  foreman  might  let  passing  on  the 
make-up  "get  by"  in  the  pressure  of  other  work,  then  might 
remember  just  enough  to  tell  him  when  the  run  was  finished. 
In  a  nitric-acid  plant  it  might  be  very  important  to  super- 
vise the  gravity  of  the  acid  run  into  the  retort  because  using 
acid  of  the  wrong  gravity  might  spoil  the  whole  operation. 
1  his  might  be  a  "high"  supervisory  point,  while  the  operation 
of  the  retort  after  the  operation  was  started  might  be  a  "low" 
point ;  that  is,  might  require  only  occasional  supervision.    A 
foreman  running  by  "guess"  with  a  number  of  other  jobs  to 
supervise  might  well  fail  to  give  this  particular  high  point 
proper  supervision. 


126 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  SUPERVISION 


127 


I'M^i 


A  good  deal  of  the  danger  of  the  "guess"  method  lies  in 
the  fact  that  a  man  looking  out  for  a  number  of  jobs  is  very 
liable  to  lose  his  sense  of  relative  values  on  supervisory  points. 
Some  men  are  liable  to  get  into  the  habit  of  making  their 
rounds  and  "picking  things  up  as  they  come"  instead  of  plan- 
ning their  supervision  according  to  "high"  and  "low"  super- 
visory points  as  discussed  in  the  last  chapter. 

Another  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  foremen  who  are 
thoroughly  familiar  with  their  jobs  may  have  dropped  into  a 
certain  routine  based  upon  convenience,  lay-out  of  the  plant, 
etc.,  and  which  was  not  originally  based  on  any  definite  study 
of  the  supervisory  requirements  of  the  job. 

Still  another  form  of  the  "guess"  method  is  "living  from 
hand  to  mouth."  A  foreman  has  no  plan  for  supervision.  He 
takes  up  points  as  they  happen  to  come  to  his  attention  or 
are  brought  to  his  attention  by  his  men. 

The  "guess"  method  has  all  the  disadvantages  of  the  old 
method  of  building  a  ship  by  whittling  out  a  model,  as  com- 
pared with  the  present  methods  of  naval  construction.  A 
man  may  do  a  good  shipbuilding  job,  but  he  does  not  know 
how  he  did  it  or  why  he  got  a  good  job. 

Of  course,  many  intelligent  and  experienced  foremen  do 
do  a  good  supervising  job  by  the  "guess"  method,  but,  in 
general,  they  have  to  work  harder  and  are  always  in  danger 
of  letting  points  get  by,  especiaUy  when  the  character  of  the 
work  changes. 

Another  danger  of  the  "guess"  method  is  that  it  is  liable 
to  lead  to  a  situation  where  "the  work  runs  the  foreman 
instead  of  the  foreman  running  the  work."  He  loses  his 
control  of  the  job. 

The  First  Analysis  not  Always  Perfect.— While  it  is  true 
that  an  analysis  of  a  supervisory  job  as  first  made  cannot 
always  be  expected  to  catch  all  points,  it  will  come  much 
nearer  doing  it  because  it  is  worked  out  carefully  and  all 
points  are  "nailed  down."  If  some  points  are  not  included 
they  can  be,  in  turn,  "nailed"  the  first  time  that  they  show  up 


and  need  never  be  lost  again,  so  that  a  practically  100  per 
cent,  lay-out  can  be  built  up  in  a  relatively  short  time. 

Use  of  the  Lay-out  to  Secure  Complete  Supervision.— 
Having  once  secured  a  supervisory  lay-out,  it  is  easy  to  see 
if,  in  practice,  any  points  that  appear  on  the  lay-out  are  not 
being  covered,  and  to  cover  them  from  that  time  on.  Some 
other  advantages  that  came  out  of  the  use  of  a  lay-out  have 
already  been  taken  up  in  preceding  chapters  and  so  are  not 
given  here. 

Checking  Responsibility  Points  Against  the  Job 
Analysis.— The  job  analysis  shows  all  operations  in  all  jobs 
in  all  departmental  jobs.  The  supervisory  lay-out  shows 
all  responsibility  points,  as  far  as  they  have  been  "spotted." 
If  each  operation,  as  shown  on  the  departmental  job  analysis, 
is  considered  with  regard  to  whether  it  does  or  does  not 
call  for  direct  supervision,  some  of  the  following  situations 
may  appear : 

(1)  Some  operations  calling  for  supervision  may  have 
been  left  out  on  the  supervisory  lay-out. 

(2)  Some  points  that  appear  on  the  supervisory  lay-out 
may  not  be  supervisory  points  after  all. 

For  example,  under  many  conditions,  say  in  a  small  job 
machine  shop  or  in  tool  making,  a  job  is  turned  over  entirely 
to  a  skilled  man.  While  the  foreman,  of  course,  is  responsible 
for  the  product,  as  a  matter  of  trade  custom,  when  he-  has 
once  said,  "Bill,  get  that  out,"  the  skilled  workmen  would  be 
responsible  for  doing  that  job.  The  foreman  would  not 
"butt  in"  while  the  job  was  going  on,  but  might  (and  prob- 
ably would)  inspect  the  product. 

Under  such  conditions,  the  foreman  would  assume  no  di- 
rect responsibility  for  the  way  in  which  the  work  was  done, 
but  would  assume  direct  responsibility  only  for  the  product. 

Of  course,  this  condition  of  things  is  less  likely  to  happen 
in  a  highly  organized  plant,  or  on  highly  specialized  work  in 
large  plants,  and  is  much  more  likely  to  happen  in  small 
plants  employing  highly  skilled  workers,  but  it  is  a  condition 


'  I  ■     " 


us 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


that  may  occur  and  often  does  occur,  and  where  it  does,  may 
affect  the  supervisory  lay-out  as  originally  planned. 

An  effective  managerial  device  for  back  checking  on  the 
completeness  and  correctness  of  the  supervisory  lay-out  as 
originally  prepared,  therefore,  is  to  check  the  lay-out  against 
a  departmental  job  analysis. 

The  Method  of  Analysis  not  Commonly  Used. — ^The 
method  of  analysis  as  applied  to  supervisory  jobs  is  not  com- 
monly used  by  foremen  to  secure  complete  and  balanced 
supervision.  There  are  a  number  of  reasons  for  this,  of 
which  the  most  common  is  the  simple  fact  that  the  value  of 
this  method  has  never  been  brought  to  their  attention  or 
they  have  had  no  experience  in  using  it  and  so  do  not  appreci- 
ate its  value.  Some  other  reasons  why  many  foremen  have 
not  used  an  analysis  are: 

(1)  It  is  a  difficult  thing  to  make  an  accurate  and  careful 
analysis,  and  the  more  experience  a  man  has  had  on  his  super- 
visory job  the  more  difficult  he  finds  analysis  work. 

(This  because  the  more  familiar  a  man  is  with  hi&  work 
the  more  difficult  it  is  for  him  to  "stand  off  and  look  at  him- 
self" and  see  what  he  actually  does.) 

(2)  Many  foremen  think  that  the  trouble  will  not  pay 
in  cost  saving,  which  is  not  the  case. 

(3)  Because  the  other  way  is  the  easiest  and  a  foreman 
is  often  so  hard  pressed  for  time  that  he  naturally  takes  the 

easier  method. 

In  spite  of  all  of  these  difficulties,  wherever  foremen  have 
learned  to  make  supervisory  analyses  and  to  use  them  in  their 
work  their  almost  universal  testimony  has  been  that  they 
have  been  well  repaid  for  their  time  and  trouble.  The  remain- 
ing chapters  in  this  book  are  intended  to  aid  foremen  in  using 
the  methods  of  analysis  in  connection  with  their  work,  in 
making  and  using  analyses  in  the  ways  in  which  they  can 
be  used  to  help  in  carrying  on  a  foreman's  various  jobs  to 

better  advantage. 

Cost   Elements— Balance  of   Supervision.— Among  the 

cost  elements  that  may  come  up  here  are: 


MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  SUPERVISION  129 

(1)  Loss  or  damage  due  to  failure  to  give  sufficient  at- 
tention to  "high"  supervisory  points. 

(2)  Loss  of  I  time  through  giving  more  attention  than  is 
necessary  to  "low"  supervisory  points. 

(3)  Time  spent  on  things  that  do  not  require  supervision 
instead  of  on  points  that  do  need  it ;  that  is,  wasting  super- 
visory time.  Where  a  supervisor  spends  time  on  something 
that  does  not  need  supervision,  even  if  he  thinks  that  it  does, 
he  is  doing  the  same  thing  that  a  workman  does  when  he  "sol- 
diers on.the  job."  It  looks  as  though  he  were  doing  something 
when  really  he  is  doing  nothing  that  counts  on  the  job.  This 
might  be  called  imitation  supervision. 

The  Managerial  Problem.^The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  reduce  cost  by  getting  the  best  possible  balance  of  super- 
vision, that  is,  by  making  the  most  of  supervisory  time 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— As  in  the  case  of  complete- 
ness of  supervision,  the  "guess  method"  or  the  method  of 
analysis  can  be  used,  and,  as  in  the  other  case,  is  far  more 
effective.    Where  there  is  a  good  supervisory  lay-out  and  a 
good  departmental  and  job  analysis  is  available  it  is  a  com- 
paratively easy  matter  to  determine  the  relative  "supervis- 
ory value"  of  aU  supervisory  responsibilities  and  locate  all 
the  "high"  and  "low"  supervisory  points.    This  usuaUy  calls 
for  at  least  a  detailed  responsibility  lay-out  and,  in  certain 
cases,  may  require  analyzing  some  detailed  responsibilities 
into  responsibility  points  by  the  method  already  described. 
Once  worked  out,  however,  it  gives  a  permanent  control  sheet 
on  the  distribution  of  routine  supervision  that  will  always 
be  of  service  in  keeping  the  job  much  better  balanced  than 
^^^^J^^ly  to  be  where  the  "  guess  "  method  is  relied  upon. 
Cost  Elements--"Getting  Lost."«The  cost  elements  here 
are  so  numerous  when  one  considers  what  may  happen  in  an 
mergency  that  no  attempt  is  made  to  suggest  any  special 

Tcut  out'  ''  *"  ''''''  '''''^  '^'"'^''*'  '^^^^^  ''"^^^y 

The  J^anagerial  Problem,-The  managerial  problem  here 


>it 


190 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


is  to  plan  in  some  way  so  that  the  department  is  never  left 
so  that  the  foreman  cannot  be  quickly  reached,  or  so  that 
some  one  in  the  department  has  authority  to  act  in 
an  emergency  during  his  absence. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— As  just  indicated,  the  only 
effective  way  of  dealing  with  this  problem  is,  first,  to  avoid 
getting  "lost,"  that  is,  never  to  allow  a  situation  to  come 
about  where  nobody  in  the  department  knows  how  to  reach  the 
foreman  in  an  emergency,  and  second,  if  that  is  not  possible, 
to  have  some  one  in  the  department  designated  to  act  in  his 
absence  and  have  everybody  know  who  that  individual  is.  Of 
course  conditions  vary,  but  in  general  the  two  methods  sug- 
gested are  at  least  worth  consideration  under  any  conditions. 
It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  the  chief  reason  for  the 
precautions  suggested  is  not  what  does  happen,  but  what 
may  happen.  Many  departments  can  run  along  for  a  good 
while  without  needing  any  special  supervision,  but  the  range 
of  what  may  happen  is  what  makes  it  necessary  to  consider 
the  problem  of  emergency  supervision  as  so  important. 

The  Value  of  Anticipating  and  Planning. — ^Another  valu- 
able managerial  device  in  connection  with  emergency  super- 
vision is,  so  far  as  it  can  be  anticipated,  planning  in  advance 
to  deal  with  the  emergency  if  it  happens.  This  is  why 
steamers  carry  boats  which  everybody  hopes  will  never  have 
to  be  used.  First  aid  kits  are  provided  with  the  same  idea. 
While,  as  already  stated,  a  supervisory  lay-out  would  not 
include  emergencies,  it  might  be  an  excellent  idea  to  also  list 
out  probable  emergencies  and  to  plan  for  dealing  with  them 
if  they  happen ;  if  they  don't,  no  harm  has  been  done ;  if  they 
do  happen,  advance  planning  may  not  only  greatly  reduce 
cost  but,  in  some  cases,  may  save  life.  A  number  of  sugges- 
tions as  to  such  advance  planning  to  meet  emergencies  will 
be  found  in  the  following  chapters  and  it  is  hoped  will  be  of 
value  as  suggestions. 

From  the  standpoint  of  emergency  supervision,  any  fore- 
man will  do  a  better  supervising  job  in  proportion  as  he  sees 


MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  SUPERVISION  131 

that  he  is  always  where  he  can  be  reached,  and  so  far  as  he 
can  anticipate  possible  emergencies  and  plans  his  action  in 
advance.  A  good  example  of  planning,  or  not  planning,  in 
advance  would  be  in  the  case  of  fire. 

It  may  never  happen,  but  sometimes  it  does  happen,  and 
if  it  does,  we  know  that  certain  things  are  likely  to  occur, 
panic,  for  example,  unless  steps  have  been  taken  to  prevent 
it.  One  foreman,  we  will  say,  has  done  nothing ;  another  fore- 
man has  seen  to  it  that  his  force  have  had  fire  drill  and  that 
all  fire  escapes  are  known  and,  in  general,  has  done  all  that 
he  can  to  prevent  damage  and  loss  of  life,  if  a  fire  occurs. 
The  second  foreman  has  evidently  discharged  his  responsi- 
bility for  emergency  supervision  for  this  particular  emer- 
gency better  than  the  first  and  will  be  more  than  repaid  for 
his  time  and  trouble  if,  as  a  result  of  his  planning,  when  a 
fire  does  come,  there  is  no  panic,  no  loss  of  life,  and,  as  a 
secondary  consideration,  minimum  damage. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 
PART  III 

1.  The    following    is    the    lay-out    for    a    job    in    a 
chemical  plant. 

a.  Fill  with  liquor. 

b.  Boil  out. 

c.  Drain. 

d.  Fill  with  water. 

e.  Test  gravity  of  liquor. 

If  under  a  certain  gravity  drain  to  one  set  of  tanks,  if 
over,  drain  to  another  tank. 

Which  of  these  operations  would  you  consider  as  high 
and  which  as  low  supervisory  points? 

2.  In    making    alum    the    following    are    the    essen- 
tial operations. 


* 


I 


i 


132 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


1.  Mix  the  ore,  the  acid  and  water  in  the  attack- 
ing tanks. 

2.  Heat  with  steam  coils. 

3.  Allow  to  settle. 

4.  Draw  off  clear  liquor. 

5.  Let  liquor  cool  and  crystalize  out  the  alum,  in 
lead  lined  tanks. 

6.  Draw  off  the  mother  liquor. 

7.  Break  up  the  crystalized  alum  with  picks. 
Which  of  these  operations  would  you  consider  as  high 

and  which  as  low  supervisory  points? 

3.  In  a  machine  shop  which  would  you  consider  the 
higher  supervisory  point,  seeing  that  a  planer  job  was  set 
up  right  or  seeing  that  the  job  was  got  out  within  the  limits 
of  tolerance? 

4.  In  a  pressman's  job  on  a  job  press  which  would  be 
the  higher  supervisory  point,  seeing  that  the  make  ready  was 
right  or  the  feeding? 

6.  Which  would  you  consider  the  higher  supervisory 
point,  seeing  that  there  were  workers  enough  to  hold  all  jobs 
or  that  all  machines  were  in  good  condition? 

6.  Taking  an  analysis  of  a  job  in  your  own  department 
spot  the  high  supervisory  points.  The  low  supervisory  points. 

7.  What  do  you  consider  some  of  the  high  supervisory 
points  on  the  different  jobs  in  your  department?    Why? 

8.  Which  do  you  consider  the  more  important,  well- 
balanced  supervision  or  emergency  supervision? 

9.  Which  would  you  consider  the  higher  supervisory 
point,  looking  out  for  any  cases  where  men  are  overfatigued 
or  looking  out  for  cases  where  they  fail  to  follow  instruc- 
tions?   Why? 

10.  As  between  the  human  elements  and  the  mechanical 
elements  on  the  jobs  in  your  department  which  do  you  think 
have  the  greater  number  of  high  supervisory  points?    Why? 

11.  In  your  opinion  what  might  be  some  of  the  cost  ele- 


MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  SUPERVISION  18S 

ments  that  might  come  up  if  supervision  was  incomplete  on 
routine  work? 

12.  In  a  certain  plant  the  finished  product  of  one  depart- 
ment was  taken  out  of  that  department  and  placed  on  a 
loading  platform  outside  of  the  shop  where  transportation 
came  and  got  it  at  certain  times.  Between  these  times  the 
material  accumulated  on  the  loading  platform.  One  day, 
while  material  was  on  the  platform  but  before  it  was  time 
for  the  truck  to  come  around,  a  rain  squall  came  up  and  the 
material  was  wet  down  and  damaged.  » 

Investigation  showed  that  neither  the  foreman  in  charge 
of  the  shop  where  the  material  was  made  nor  the  foreman  in 
charge  of  transportation  considered  that  they  were  responsi- 
ble. What  does  this  case  indicate  as  to  completeness  of 
somebody's  supervision?    Whose's? 

13.  How  would  you  designate  a  failure  to  take  steps 
to  quickly  put  out  a  fire  if  it  got  started? 

14.  In  a  certain  plant  it  was  found  that,  in  some  cases, 
fire  extinguishers  were  used  and  then  were  put  back  without 
reporting  the  fact  that  they  had  been  used.  Would  you 
say  this  was  due  to  incomplete  supervision  or  to  unbalanced 
supervision?    Why? 

15.  Using  a  work  job  analysis  as  a  starting  point  note 
on  It  the  high  and  low  supervisory  points.  Give  reasons  why 
you  rate  the  different  points  as  you  do. 

16.  A  certain  job  caUs  for  weighing  different  quantities 
to  make  up  a  mixture  and  then  for  mixing  these  quantities 
m  a  mechanical  mixer.  Which  of  these  operations  would  you 
say  had  the  higher  supervisory  value?    Why? 


mmm 


PART  IV 

THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF 
THE  WORKING  FORCE  BLOCK  INTO  SPE- 
CIFIC AND  DETAILED  RESPONSIBILITIES 


CHAPTER  XI 


DETAILED  AND  SPECIFIC  RESPONSIBILITIES  ON 
THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE 

SECTION  I.  PEELIMINAEY 

Preliminary.— The  preceding  chapters  have  described 
the  methods  by  which  the  supervisory  and  managerial  jobs 
of  a  foreman  can  be  laid  out  up  to  the  determination  of  the 
general  responsibilities.  It  was  moreover,  pointed  out  that 
the  lay-out  could  be  extended  further  in  detail  by  laying  out 
the  general  responsibilities  into  detailed  responsibilities  and 
then  laying  out  the  specific  responsibiHties  that  go  with  each 
detailed  responsibility.  For  each  detailed  responsibility 
there  can  also  be  determined  the  detailed  cost  dements,  the 
detailed  managerial  problem  and  the  detailed  ways  and 
means  for  dealing  with  that  problem  to  the  best  advantage. 
As  an  illustration  of  how  this  further  extension  of  the  lay- 
out can  be  made  the  following  chapters  take  up  such  an 
extension  of  the  lay-out  for  a  number  of  general  responsi- 
bilities, mcluding  those  on  the  distribution  of  the  working 
force  and  on  the  handling   of  information. 

With  the  aid  of  the  charts  the  other  general  responsibili- 
ties  can   be   laid   out   for   specific    and   detailed   responsi- 
bilities m  the  same  way  wherever  that  further  extension  of 
the  lay-out  seems  desirable,  for  either  supervision,  manage- 
ment or  for  both.  The  general  responsibility  lay-out  on  page 
61  showed  one  block  on  the  working  force  and  two  general 
responsibilities:  (1)  for  keeping  up  the  working  force,  and 
U j  for  the  distribution  of  the  working  force.     This  chapter 
deals  with  some  of  the  more  probable  specific  and  detailed 
responsibilities  that  may  come  into  these  general  responsi- 
bilities, as  a  suggestion  to  foremen  who  may  wish  to  carry 
the  analysis^  of  their  jobs  beyond  the  point  of  the  general 
responsibihties  as  given  in  Part  11. 

187 


188 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


SOME  DETAILED  AND  SPECIFIC  RESPONSIBILITIES  IN 
THE  WORKING  FORCE  BLOCK 


Keeping     up     the 
Working   Force 


Dealing  with   Per- 
manent     Labor  * 
Loss 


Hiring* 

Discharging  * 

Securing     transfers     of 

workers      from     other 

departments  * 
Transferring  workers  to 

other  departments* 


Dealing  with  Tem-  f "  Doubling  up 


porary 
Loss 


Labor 


Covering  all  Jobs 


Distributing  the  De- 
partmental Work- 
ing Force 


Covering   all   jobs 
(Qualifications  of 
workers) 


Making  temporary  trans- 
fers 

As  to  number  of  workers 

As  to  necessary  strength 
As     to     necessary     job 

knowledge 
As  to  necessary  job  skill 
On  highly  skilled  jobs 
On   medium   skilled  jobs 
On  specialized  jobs 
On  machine  tending  jobs 
On   laborers  jobs 


Making  transfers 
from  one  grade 
of  job  to  an- 
other 


Promoting  f 

Demoting  f 

Shifting    from    one    job 

to  another  of  the  same 

grade 

•  By  recommendation,  direct  action  or  suggestion,  as  the  case  may  be. 
t  By  recommendation,  direct  action  or  suggestion,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Labor  Loss. — In  any  concern  there  is  always  some 
amount  of  labor  loss  due  to  various  causes,  but  whatever  the 
cause  there  is  always  a  responsibility  on  somebody  to  see  that 
this  loss  is  made  up  in  some  way,  and  this  responsibility  for 
dealing  with  labor  loss  may  be  a  part  of  the  foreman's  job. 

The  Two  Kinds  of  Labor  Loss. — There  are  two  kinds  of 
labor  loss,  that  is,  the  department  may  be  "shy"  on  labor  in 
two  ways : 

1.  The  department  may  actually  lack  a  sufficient  number 
of  workers  to  cover  all  jobs  on  account  of  what  may  be 
called  permanent  loss.  In  this  case  the  loss  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  somebody  has  gone  off  the  departmental  payroll  for 
good.    He  has  been  fired,  has  quit,  or  for  some  other  cause 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE  139 

has  gone  for  good  so  far  as  the  departmental  operating  force 
is  concerned. 

Evidently  loss  of  this  kind  must  be  made  good  by  bring- 
mg  new  workers  into  the  department  from  somewhere :  by  hir- 
mg,  by  transferring  from  some  other  department,  or  in  some 
other  waj. 

One  specific  responsibility,  as  indicated  on  the  chart, 
might  therefore  be  in  connection  with  dealing  with  permanent 
labor  loss.    This  form  of  labor  loss  is  discussed  in  Section  II. 

2.  A  different  case  would  be  where  somebody  is  stiU  on 
the  payroll  but  is  not  on  the  job :  Although  he  is  stiU  theoreti- 
cally employed,  as  a  matter  of  fact  his  place  is  empty.  He 
may  have  "taken  a  day  off,"  he  may  be  sick,  he  may  be  laid 
up  on  account  of  accident,  but,  whatever  the  cause,  there  is  a 
temporary  hole  to  "plug"  in  some  way,  but  not  by  per- 
manently takmg  on  new  workers.  This  sort  of  loss  may  be 
called  temporary  loss. 

Distribution  of  the  Working  Force._The  general  re- 
sponsibility for  the  distribution  of  the  working  force  as  given 
above  can  be  subdivided  into  three  specific  responsibilfties! 
as  mdicated.  * 

thJ'  ^?^5.'"^^«"  J°l>«-  That  is,  a  responsibility  for  seeing 
that  no  job  m  the  department  stops  because  there  is  nobody 
on  It.  This  possible  responsibility  is  taken  up  in  Section  JY. 
or  ,tn  11"?  I     ''T'"''^^  tninimura  strength,  knowledge 

depee  of  "job"  knowledge  or  skill  and  often  requires  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  physical  strength.  If  the  worker  on  that  job 
does  not  possess  these  qualifications  sufficiently  to  meet  the 
n,mnmm  requirements,  the  job  cannot  go  on-it  stops 
Somebody  must  be  responsible  for  seeing  that  no  job  stops' 
because  the  worker  assigned  to  it  cannft  put  over  the  ^b 
tl  ;  1  f  responsibility  may  be  a  part  of  the  foreman's 
job,  to  be  put  across  either  through  action,  recommendation, 
lly^^^T'  ^T'^^'^'S  to  the  procedure.  This  possible 
re  ponsibdity  and  some  possible  detaUed  responsibilities  in 
WIS  connection  are  discussed  in  Section  V. 


il'll 

I 


m 


# 


140 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


3.  Making  transfers  from  one  grade  to  another.  One 
possible  way  of  adjusting  the  working  force  to  meet  labor  loss 
is  by  transferring  from  one  job  to  another. 

SKCTION    n.    KEEPING    UP    THE    WORKING    FORCE PERMANENT 

LABOR   LOSS 

Preliminary. — ^This  section  discusses  some  of  the  possible 
detailed  responsibilities  that  may  come  out  of  the  specific 
responsibility  for  dealing  with  permanent  labor  loss.  Some 
of  the  more  probable  of  these  that  may  come  into  a  foreman's 
job  are,  as  indicated  on  the  chart: 

1.  Hiring. 

2.  Discharging. 

3.  Securing  transfers  from  other  departments. 

4.  Gretting  workers  transferred  to  other  departments. 
These  possible  responsibilities  are  so  evident  that  they  need 
little  discussion  and  are  only  noted  very  briefly  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

Hiring. — The  only  point  worth  drawing  attention  to  in 
connection  with  this  special  possible  detailed  responsibility 
is  that  there  is  a  responsibility  here  whenever  a  foreman's 
job  includes  anything  to  do  with  the  securing  of  help. 
Whether  he  is  expected  to  get  his  men  himself,  or  even  to  "hire 
at  the  gate,"  or  whether  a  part  of  his  job  is  to  suggest  desir- 
able employees  to  an  employment  department,  or  where  he 
sends  in  requisitions  for  new  workers,  he  has  responsibilities 
under  this  heading. 

Discharging. — The  same  general  statement  applies  here 
as  in  the  case  of  hiring. 

Securing  Transfers. — ^As  in  the  other  cases  there  is  a 
responsibility  here  if  the  foreman's  job  includes  any  action  as 
to  transfers,  whether  it  is  by  direct  action  with  other  fore- 
men or  through  an  employment  department,  or  in  any 
other  way. 

In  all  the  three  cases  noted  above  the  only  question  is 
whether  the  job  of  the  particular  foreman  under  considera- 
tion does  or  does  not  include  detailed  responsibilities  with 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WORKING  FX)RCE  Ml 

regard  to  hiring,  firing  and  transferring.    In  considering  this 
point  many  foremen  are  liable  to  think  that  they  have  no 
responsibilities  in  this  connection,  because  they  do  not  act 
directly,  but,  as  has  been  repeatedly  stated,  if  there  is  any 
recommending  or  even  suggesting  responsibility  it  should  be 
included  m  the  specific  and  detailed  responsibility  lay-out  for 
that  particular  foreman's  job.     So  far  as  the  department 
IS  concerned  it  must  be  remembered  that  loss  by  discharge, 
by  quitting,  by  transfer  to  other  departments  or  by  promo- 
tion out  of  the  department  means  permanent  labor  loss  to  the 
department,  if  not  always  to  the  plant  as  a  whole,  so  that 
any  responsibilities  that  affect  any  of  these  points  should  be 
listed  under  one  of  the  detailed  responsibilities  given.    Thus, 
for  example,  a  foreman  may  have  the  responsibility  for  rec- 
ommending for  promotion  out  of  the  department,  although 
the  actual  action  may  come  from  "higher  up,"  or  he  may 
have  the  responsibility  for  finding  out  whv  a  worker  quit,  or 
he  may  be  expected  to  "scout  around"  for  additional  help, 
even  if  the  actual  formal  responsibility  is  on  an  employment 
department.    In  all  such  cases  there  would  be  responsibiHties 
under  the  headings  given,  though,  at  first,  a  man  would  be 
hkely  to  say  that  matters  of  that  kind  were  outside  of  his 
job  and  leave  them  out  of  his  lay-out. 

SECTION   in.    KEEPING    UP    THE    WORKING   POECE— TEMPORARY 

LABOR   LOSS 

Preliminary.— As  pointed  out  in  the  preliminary  section, 
another  set  of  detailed  responsibilities  may  come  into  the  job 
of  a  foreman  in  connection  with  temporary  labor  loss.  These 
are  taken  up  so  far  as  they  are  suggested  on  the  chart,  in 
the  following  paragraphs. 

"Doubling  Up."— In  cases  of  temporary  absence  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  put  one  worker  on  all  or  a  part  of  the 
job  of  the  absentee  in  addition  to  his  own  job  in  order  to  keep 
aU  the  work  going.  This  is,  of  course,  an  ineflicient  device, 
but  it  may  be  the  only  thing  that  can  be  done.    Where  a  fore- 


142 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


man  has  the  responsibility  of  deciding  when  such  "doubling 
up"  is  necessary,  he  has  some  form  of  responsibility  under 
this  heading,  whether  he  acts  directly  or  by  recommendation. 
Temporary  Transfers. — ^In  the  same  way  as  in  "doubling 
up,"  it  may  be  necessary  to  take  somebody  away  from  a  less 
important  job  in  order  to  deal  with  temporary  absence  on  a 
more  important  job.  Where  the  responsibility  of  doing  this, 
or  recommending  that  it  be  done,  is  up  to  the  foreman,  he 
has  a  detailed  responsibility  under  this  heading. 

SECTION  IV.  DISTEIBUTING  THE  WORKING  FORCE COVERING 

ALL  JOBS 

Preliminary. — This  section  discusses  some  possible  de- 
tailed responsibilities  in  connection  with  covering  all  jobs  as 
noted  in  Section  I. 

Skill,  Knowledge  and  Strength  on  the  Job. — ^Practically 
all  jobs  are  carried  on  partly  by  the  worker  and  partly  by 
the  machine  or  the  tools,  in  fact,  it  might  be  said  that  the 
worker  does  whatever  the  machine  or  the  tools  cannot  do  in 
helping  the  worker  to  do  the  job.  The  machine  or  the  tools 
may  aid  the  worker  to  a  greater  or  to  a  less  extent,  but  in 
practically  all  cases  the  machine  cannot  entirely  supply  all 
the  strength,  may  supply  a  part  of  the  "skill"  and  can  supply 
no  knowledge.  For  practically  all  jobs,  therefore,  there  must 
be  provided  workers  who  can  supply  the  necessary  strength, 
knowledge  and  skill,  and  in  assigning  workers  to  jobs  it  is 
evident  that  these  "job  requirements"  must  be  known  and 
taken  into  consideration  to  the  extent  of  seeing  that  whoever 
is  put  on  the  job  possesses  the  necessary  strength,  the  special 
knowledge  and  the  special  skill  to  "hold  down  the  job."  If 
this  is  not  done  the  work  will  not  be  done.  Under  the  detailed 
responsibility  for  covering  all  jobs  there  may,  therefore,  be 
possible  detailed  responsibilities,  as  indicated  on  the 
chart  for: 

1.  Covering  aU  jobs  as  to  necessary  strength. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE  143 

2.  Covering  all  jobs  as  to  necessary  special  knowledge. 
(Job  knowledge.) 

3.  Covering  all  jobs  as  to  necessary  special  skill. 

Where  a  foreman  finds  that  he  has  a  specific  responsi- 
bility for  covering  jobs  he  probably  has  aU  three  of  these 
detailed  responsibilities. 

Different  Grades  of  Jobs.— Different  jobs  vary  in  the 
relative  amounts  of  strength,  knowledge  and  skill,  and  this 
fact  IS  commonly  indicated  by  the  use  of  the  terms  "skilled  " 
"specialized"  and  "unskilled."  The  terms  as  used  on  the 
chart  are  somewhat  more  specific  and  are  used  here  in  the 
sense  given  below. 

Highly  Skilled  Jobs.-Jobs  designated  by  this  term  are 
those  that  belong  to  what  are  commonly  called  skilled  trades 
such    as    "all    around"    machinists,    pattern    makers,    etc.,' 
where  both  the  amount  and  the  degree  of  knowledge  and  skill 
are  high. 

Medium  Skilled  Jobs.-Jobs  designated  by  this  term  are 
those  that  belong  to  what  are  commonly  called  "semi-skilled" 
trades.  These  jobs  often  require  a  high  degree  of  skill  but 
do  not  require  as  wide  a  range  of  knowledge 

Specialized  Jobs.-Jobs  designated  here  by  this  term  are 
jobs  or  operations  that  belong  to  a  skiUed  or  semi-skilled 
trade,  such  as  operating  one  machine  in  the  machine  shop 
(lathe  hand,  miller  hand,  planer  hand)  or  other  similar  iobs. 

Machine  Tending  Jobs.-As  used  here,  this  term  refers 
to  jobs  where  the  machine  does  nearly  aU  the  work,  as  in  the 
case  of  tending  an  automatic  screw  machine  or  gear  cutter 
or  a  ring  spinning  frame  in  a  cotton  mill.  ' 

Laborers'  Jobs.-As  used  here,  this  term  refers  to  jobs 
that  require  only  the  use  of  the  simplest  tools  and  machines, 
"  any.  The  term  is  used  in  its  ordinary  sense  and  needs  no 
special  explanation. 

Why  it  is  Worth  While  to  Distinguish  Between  Grades 
w  Jobs  m  Making  the  Lay-out  of  Specific  Responsibilities.— 
^ne  distinction  between  the  different  grades  of  jobs  is  worth 
making  in  the  detaHed  responsibility  lay-out  because  the 


i 


144 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


grade  of  the  jobs  for  whose  covering  the  foreman  may  be 
responsible  "cuts  considerable  ice"  in  connection  with  the 
managerial  side  of  the  job,  and  often  affects  the  conditions 
under  which  the  responsibilities  must  be  discharged.  This 
matter  is  taken  up  in  the  discussion  on  managerial  responsi- 
bilities and  so  is  not  considered  further  here. 

SECTION    V.    DISTEIBUTION    OP    THE    WOEKING    FOECE MAKING 

TEANSFEES  FEOM   ONE   6EADE  TO  ANOTHEE 

Preliminary. — One  possible  method  of  dealing  with  the 
question  of  the  distribution  of  the  working  force  is  to  transfer 
either  from  one  job  to  another  or  to  transfer  from  jobs  of  one 
grade  to  those  of  another  grade.  Some  possible  detailed 
responsibilities  that  may  come  into  the  foreman's  job  in  this 
connection  are  discussed  in  this  section  as  suggested  on 
the  chart. 

Promoting  and  Demoting. — ^If  a  foreman  has  any  respon- 
sibilities in  this  connection,  either  by  direct  action,  by  recom- 
mendation or  by  suggestion,  he  should  include  these  items  in 
his  detailed  responsibility  lay-out.  This  matter  should  be 
given  careful  attention,  because  many  foremen  feel,  at  first 
thought,  that  unless  they  have  direct  acting  authority  in  the 
matter  they  have  no  responsibility,  which  is,  of  course,  not 
the  case.  This  is  especially  important,  because,  as  is  dis- 
cussed in  the  chapters  on  the  human  factor,  the  manner  in 
which  these  responsibilities  are  discharged  sets  up  some  of 
the  most  difficult  managerial  problems,  so  that  any  foreman 
should  be  very  sure  that  he  has  no  responsibilities  under  these 
headings  before  he  omits  them  from  his  responsibility  lay-out. 

Shifting  Jobs. — This  is  often  a  very  important  responsi- 
bility in  connection  with  the  distribution  of  the  working  force 
and,  in  some  form,  comes  into  the  job  of  almost  all  foremen. 
It  is  important  for  much  the  same  reasons  as  were  given  for 
promoting  and  demoting,  and,  according  to  the  way  that  it 
is  handled,  may  greatly  affect  the  cost  of  labor  in  the  depart- 
ment, as  is  fully  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  the  human  factor. 
A  foreman  should  be  very  sure  that  he  has  neither  acting, 
recommending  or  suggesting  responsibilities  before  he  omits 
this  detailed  responsibility  from  his  lay-out. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 

ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

WORKING  FORCE 

SECTION  I.  PEELIMINAEY 

Preliminary.— It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that 
a  foreman's  supervisory  job  might  include  a  number  of  de- 
tailed and  specific  responsibilities  in  connection  with  the 
distribution  of  the  working  force.  This  chapter  suggests  a 
number  of  corresponding  possible  cost  elements  and  manage- 
rial problems  in  this  part  of  the  foreman's  job. 

As  m  other  cases,  these  managerial  problems  are  not  fully 
considered  nor  would  all  of  those  mentioned  probably  come 
into  the  managerial  job  of  any  one  foreman.  It  is  also  true 
that  there  are  probably  cost  elements  and  corresponding 
managerial  problems  that  are  not  included.  As  in  all  other 
cases,  each  foreman  must  make  up  his  own  set  of  cost  ele- 
ments, and  the  corresponding  managerial  problems  from  his 
own  supervisory  lay-out. 

This  Chapter  Deals  With  Worker  Distribution  Only.— 
It  should  be  noted  that  this  chapter  deals  with  'Vorker  dis- 
tribution" only,  that  is,  with  the  cost  elements  and  man- 
agerial problems  that  come  up  in  connection  with  "covering" 
all  human  operating  points  in  the  department  with  workers 
possessing  the  necessary  strength,  knowledge  and  skill.  The 
questions  relating  to  dealing  with  workers  as  Tnen  or  w(men 
are  taken  up  in  the  chapters  on  "  The  Human  Factors."* 

SECTION  n.  COVEEING  ALL  JOBS 

It  was  pointed  out  in  the  last  chapter  that  one  possible 
^ecific  responsibility  in  the  case  of  any  given  foreman  might 
ggjo  see  that  all  human  operating  points  on  aU  the  jobs  in 


♦Chapters  XV,  XVII  and  XXII. 


145 


146 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


M# 


his  department  were  properly  covered,  and  this  responsibility 
was  taken  up  under  "The  Distribution  of  the  Working 
Force,"  and  the  term  is  used  in  that  sense  here. 

This  section  therefore,  suggests  some  of  the  possible 
cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  in  connection  with 
the  distribution  of  the  working  force. 

Cost  Elements  on  the  Distribution  of  the  Working 
Force. — ^Among  the  more  important  cost  elements  in  connec- 
tion with  the  distribution  of  the  working  force  are : 

1.  The  number  of  workers  employed. 

2.  The  necessary  knowledge,  strength  or  skill  required 
to  cover  the  human  operating  points  in  the  department. 

3.  The  number  of  human  operating  points  that  must  be 
covered  in  the  department. 

4.  The  number  and  kind  of  reserve  workers  carried, 
if  any. 

The  cost  will,  therefore,  be  increased  or  reduced  in  pro- 
portion as : 

1.  The  degree  to  which  the  number  of  workers  employed 
is  what  may  be  called  the  economic  number,  the  cost  going 
up  whenever  that  number  is  exceeded  or  when  less  than  that 
number  are  employed,  that  is,  a  foreman  can  increase  his  cost 
by  employing  too  many  workers  or  by  not  employing  enough. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  each  human  operating  point  is 
covered  with  the  minimum  necessary  job  knowledge  or  skill, 
or  even,  in  some  cases,  the  least  necessary  physical  strength. 
That  is,  a  foreman  can  increase  his  cost  by  putting  too  high 
grade  a  worker  on  a  given  job  or  by  putting  on  a  man  that  is 
of  too  low  a  grade. 

3.  In  general,  it  costs  less  to  cover  machine  operating 
points  than  it  does  to  cover  human  operating  points,  since 
human  knowledge  or  skill  is  usually  more  expensive  than 
machine  work,  so  that  whenever  a  foreman  can  choose  between 
making  a  given  operation  a  human  or  a  machine  operating 
point  and  makes  it  a  human  operating  point  as  a  general 
proposition  he  increases  his  cost,  although  there  are  many 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  147 

exceptions  to  this  rule,  and,  in  many  cases  there  is  no  choice 
m  the  matter  so  far  as  the  foreman  is  concerned. 

3.  It  is  evident  that  the  greater  the  number  of  human 
operatmg  pomts  in  the  work  jobs  in  the  department  the 
greater  the  cost  as  a  general  proposition,  since  this  means 
domg  more  work  with  men  and  less  with  machines. 

4.  On  account  of  absenteeism  and  other  causes,  it  is  often 
necessary  to  carry  more  workers  than  are  required  to  handle 
the  work  of  the  department  at  any  one  time.  Evidently,  in 
this  case,  if  this  "reserve"  is  too  small  and  jobs  have  to  stop 
on  account  of  lack  of  workers  the  cost  goes  up,  and  if  too 
many  reserve  workers  are  employed  the  cost  also  goes  up,  so 

n  I'^^T  *^^l"^^"^^  ^««^^«  into  the  job  of  a  foreman  he 
will  hold  down  his  cast  in  hitting  what  may  be  called  again 
the    economic  point  on  reserve  operating  force." 

Since  these  matters  may  be  of  considerable  importance 
in  some  cases,  they  are  taken  up  in  some  detail  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

A.  THE  NUMBEE  OP  WORKERS  EMPLOYED  IN  A  DEPARTMENT 

The  Number  of  Employees.-Since  all  employees  are 
paid,  the  greater  the  number  of  men  employed  on  any  given 
job  the  greater  the  cost  on  that  job,  so  that,  all  otherthings 
bemg  equal,  the  fewer  the  men  employed  on  the  job,  provided 

T^r*  overworked,  the  less  the  cost  of  production. 

far!  ..  T  r^^^'"'-""'^^^  managerial  problem,  so 
far  as  the  number  of  men  employed  is  concerned,  is  to  hold 
the  size  of  the  force  down  to  the  point  where  all  human  oper- 
atmg points  can  be  covered  to  the  best  advantage. 
a.erkT  ^r'^'""'  ^'^^'^^-l^  is  evident  that  the  man- 
TnTof^f'!.  1'""  7  ""  *  "^'"^  complicated  one,  because  so 
many  of  the  human  factors  come  in,  such  as  fatigue,  interest, 
satisfaction  and  so  on,  as  discussed  in  other  chapters.  So 
ar  as  the  matter  is  takon  up  here,  it  is  only  considered  from 
the  non-human  factor"  standpoint,  leaving  the  other  side 
of  the  matter  to  be  discussed  later. 

Serial  and  Simultaneous  Operating  Points.-In  any  job 


148 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


analysis  the  human  operating  points  may  come  along  one 
after  the  other,  or  there  may  be  cases  where  we  find  at  the 
same  time  more  than  one  point  at  which  a  man's  services  are 
required.  That  is,  we  may  or  may  not  have  stmvltaneous 
operating  points.  In  such  a  case  cost  is  evidently  increased 
if  only  one  man  is  put  on  the  job,  because  either  the  job 
cannot  be  done,  or  two  operating  points  that  should  be 
covered  at  the  same  time  must  be  covered  one  after  the  other. 
If  this  number  of  absolute  requirements  is-  exceeded,  the  cost 
naturally  is  increased.  For  example,  in  a  case  of  excavating 
for  a  ditch,  there  may  be  three  human  operating  points : 

( 1 )  Throwing  the  dirt  out  of  the  ditch. 

(2)  Loading  into  the  cart. 

(3)  Dumping  from  the  cart. 

If  the  conditions  are  such  that  only  one  man  can  suc- 
cessfully be  used  at  each  point  and  an  attempt  is  made  to 
put  a  second  man  on  that  point,  not  only  is  cost  increased  in 
point  of  money  expended,  but  the  time  is  increased  because 
the  men  get  in  one  another's  way.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  one 
man  was  expected  to  cover  all  the  points,  one  by  one,  it  would 
take  him  longer,  which  would  probably  increase  the  cost,  on 
account  of  the  increased  time  required. 

The  Economic  Point  for  the  Number  of  Men  on  the 

Job. — ^The  degree  to  which  exactly  the  right  number  of  men 
are  used  and  the  degree  to  which  each  man  is  assigned  to  a 
point  where  a  man  can  most  effectively  work,  will  keep  costs 
at  a  minimum.  It  may  be  possible  to  have  the  correct  number 
of  men  on  a  job  and  have  them  so  distributed  that  at  some 
points  a  greater  number  than  are  required  will  be  working, 
while  at  others  a  not  sufficient  number  might  be  used ;  that  is, 
the  distribution  of  even  the  correct  number  can  very  often 
cause  costs  to  be  increased. 

The  Use  of  the  Job  Analysis. — ^As  in  a  niunber  of  cases 
already  discussed,  while  the  special  means  adopted  for  deal- 
ing with  cost  elements  due  to  the  number  of  workers  employed 
will  vary  according  to  the  special  conditions,  the  problem 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  149 

will,  in  general,  be  better  handled  if  the  necessary  number  of 
workers  is  determined  for  any  given  set  of  conditions  from  a 
study  of  the  actual  facts  rather  than  as  a  result  of  mere 
"guessmg."    This  means  that  the  necessary  information  must 
be  collected  by  somebody  if  the  job  is  to  be  handled  in  good 
shape.     As  m  a  number  of  cases  already  noted,  one  of  the 
most   effective  managerial   "tricks"  is   the  use   of  the  job 
analysis  as  a  starting  point.     With  a  good  lay-out  of  jobs, 
operations  and  operating  points  worked  out  as  described  in 
Chapter  III,  it  is  possible  to  accurately  determine  the  vari- 
ous human  operating  points  and  their  requirements,  whether 
they  are  serial  or  simultaneous  and  so  on,  and  so  determine 
just  how  many  men  will  be  required  and  where  they  are  re- 
quired.   While,  as  everybody  knows,  this  sort  of  thing  can- 
not be  worked  out  to  a  mathematical  point,  such  a  "dis- 
tribution lay-out"  as  suggested  is  a  great  help  in  dealing 
with  this  problem  from  the  managerial  standpoint  and  will 
enable  any  foreman  who  has  responsibilities  of  this  sort  to 
distribute  his  working  force  at  all  times  so  as  to  cover  his 
operating  points  on  his  departmental  work  jobs  with  the 
least  waste  of  knowledge  and  skill.     That  is,  with  the  fewest 
cases  of  workers  standing  around  with  nothing  to  do,  and 
vith  all  human  operating  points  covered  at  all  times. 

SECTION  m.  KEEPING  UP  THE  WORKING  FORCE  IN  THE  DEPART- 
MENT  TEMPORARY  LOSS 

Preliminary.— The  last  section  took  up  the  distribution 
of  the  working  force  as  if  the  make-up  of  this  force  always 
remained  the  same  and  the  managerial  problem  was  merely  to 
properly  distribute  aU  workers  with  regard  to  the  human 
operating  points  on  the  different  work  jobs  in  the  depart- 
ment. In  practice,  of  course,  this  condition  rarely  if  ever 
exists.  There  is  always  more  or  less  change  in  the  force,  a 
greater  or  less  amount  of  turnover.  For  various  reasons  the 
operating  force  always  tends  to  become  smaller;  workers 
ieave,  are  transferred  or  are  discharged;  men  are  laid  off 


r 


H' 


150 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


when  work  is  slack  and  are  taken  on  when  work  comes 
up  again. 

All  of  this  means  that  in  addition  to  the  matter  of  proper 
distribution  of  the  working  force  there  is  always  the  responsi- 
bility of  keeping  up  the  force  and,  either  by  direct  action, 
by  recommendation  or  by  suggestion  this  responsibility  often 
comes  into  the  foreman's  job. 

This  section,  therefore,  discusses  some  of  the  cost  elements 
and  managerial  problems  that  come  out  of  the  necessity  for 
keeping  up  the  working  force  in  which,  as  wHl  be  pointed  out, 
a  foreman,  if  he  has  any  responsibility  in  the  matter,  can  do 
much  to  increase  or  cut  down  costs,  according  to  the  care 
that  he  gives  to  the  way  in  which  these  responsibilities 
are  dischar^d. 

Keeping  up  the  Working  Force. — Since  for  any  depart- 
ment there  must  be  a  certain  number  of  workers  to  "man"  all 
operating  points,  this  number  must  be  kept  up,  and  if,  due  to 
any  cause,  discharge,  quitting,  absence  and  so  on,  the  force 
drops  below  this  point  some  part  of  the  work  must  stop. 
That  is,  if  all  the  work  is  to  be  kept  going  the  number  of 
workers  must  be  somehow  kept  up  to  the  necessary  working 
minimum.  Whatever  the  special  cause  for  the  operating 
force  falling  below  the  minimum  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
work,  practically  all  causes  can  be  "headed  up"  into  one  of 
two  cases : 

1.  Permanent  loss  of  workers. 

2.  Temporary  loss  of  workers. 

These  two  kinds  of  loss  are  taken  up  in  the  following  para- 
graphs. Although  these  terms  have  already  been  explained, 
they  are  repeated  here  for  convenience. 

What  is  Meant  by  Permanent  Loss. — ^As  the  term  is  used 
here,  permanent  loss  means  that  the  worker  is  gone  for  good, 
has  quit,  been  transferred  or  has  been  discharged. 

What  is  Meant  by  Temporary  Loss. — As  the  term  is  used 
here,  temporary  loss  means  that  the  worker  is  out,  but,  so 
far  as  anybody  knows,  is  coming  back ;  he  has  taken  a  day  offy 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  151 

is  ill,  or  for  some  other  reason  is  temporarily  out  of  the  de- 
partment and  therefore  off  the  job. 

Cost  Elements. — ^The  general  cost  elements  here  may  be 
as  follows : 

For  temporary  loss,  the  temporary  replacement  cost. 

For  permanent  loss,  the  permanent  replacement  cost. 

Cost  Elements^Temporary  Loss.— Among  the  more 
common  cost  elements  on  temporary  labor  loss  are : 

1.  Production  loss  on  operating  equipment  while  some- 
body else  is  put  on  the  job. 

2.  The  cost  of  carrying  extra  workers. 

3.  Possible  falling  off  in  quality  or  quantity  of  produc- 
tion due  to  the  necessity  of  putting  less  experienced  workers 
on  the  job. 

4.  Increased  possibility  of  accidents  and  damage  to  tools 
or  equipment  due  to  the  putting  on  of  workers  who  are  less 
used  to  the  job. 

5.  Possible  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  workers 
who  are  transferred  or  who  have  to  "double  up"  to  meet 
the  emergency. 

6.  In  case  of  serial  jobs,  as  in  a  shoe  factory  or  a  gar- 
ment factory,  loss  of  production  on  several  jobs  that  depend 
on  the  job  of  the  absentee. 

7.  Time  lost  in  arguments  and  discussion  as  to  whether 
the  absence  was  really  necessary. 

These,  of  course,  are  general  possibilities,  all  of  which 
might  not  come  up  in  any  one  case  and,  for  any  given  case, 
there  would  probably  be  others  not  given  here,  which  will 
readily  occur  to  any  foreman,  but  those  given  are  enough  to 
form  a  basis  for  the  following  suggestions  as  to  dealing  with 
the  problem. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problems 
here  are  really  of  two  kinds : 

(a)  To  reduce  loss  due  to  absenteeism  to  a  minimnm 

(b)  To  plan  in  advance,  so  that  loss  due  to  necessary 
absence  is  made  as  small  as  possible. 


ilhu,u 


152 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  lORCE 


169 


i 


Dealing  with  the  Problem — Reducing  Absenteeism. — ^In 
general,  absenteeism  is  either  necessary  or  unnecessary. 
Necessary  absenteeism  might  be  due  to  such  causes  as  sick- 
ness, either  of  the  worker  himself  or  in  his  family,  accident, 
really  important  personal  matters  that  must  be  attended  to 
during  working  hours,  and,  of  course,  when  really  necessary, 
cannot  be  reduced. 

Unnecessary  absence,  of  course,  in  theory,  can  be  entirely 
cut  out,  but  in  practice  can  only  be  held  down.  Some  workers 
will  always  stay  out  for  unnecessary  reasons,  and  the  best 
that  can  be  done  is  to  reduce  this  sort  of  thing  as  much 
as  possible. 

Among  the  managerial  devices  for  doing  this  are  those 
suggested  in  the  f oUowing  paragraphs : 

Unnecessary  Absenteeism. — Unnecessary  absence  is  al- 
most always  due  to  mental  attitude,  as  discussed  in  Part 
VII  and,  of  course,  if  the  mental  attitude  of  all  workers 
was  right  on  this  point  there  would  be  no  unnecessary  ab- 
sences. Unfortunately,  however,  this  condition  of  mind  rarely 
exists  in  all  members  of  the  working  force  and  so  the  matter 
of  unnecessary  absenteeism  becomes  an  important  managerial 
problem  for  most  foremen. 

Some  of  the  causes  of  unnecessary  absence  are: 

(a)  Ignorance. 

(b)  Lack  of  sense  of  responsibility. 

(c)  Laziness. 

Unnecessary  Absence  D\ic  to  Ignorance. — ^In  many  cases, 
especially  with  young  workers,  unnecessary  absence  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  really  have  no  idea  that  absence  makes  any 
difference  to  anybody  but  themselves.  For  example,  a  girl 
employed  on  a  serial  operation  in  a  garment  factory  and 
working  on  piecework  often  thinks,  "If  I  stay  out  I  lose 
my  money  and  that  is  nobody's  business  except  my  own.*' 

She  may  be  perfectly  honest  in  this  belief,  because  she  is 
entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  her  absence  not  only  costs 
the  concern  money,  but  may  cost  some  of  her  fellow-workers 


money,  by  tying  up  their  operations  as  well  as  her  own. 
Under  these  conditions,  if  she  knew,  in  some  cases,  at  least, 
she  would  be  less  likely  to  "take  a  day  oif,"  whenever  she  felt 
like  it.  Therefore,  absence  due  to  ignorance  can  be  sometimes 
reduced  by  seeing  that  each  worker  understands  the  relation 
of  his  job  to  other  jobs  and  the  effect  of  unnecessary  absence 
on  the  work  of  the  "team."  While,  of  course,  this  wHl  not 
work  in  all  cases,  it  will  never  do  any  harm  to  see  that  all 
workers  are  informed  as  to  such  matters  and  in  many  cases 
it  will  do  good.  This  may  well  become  a  part  of  the  fore- 
man's instruction  responsibilities. 

Unnecessary  Absence  Due  to  Lack  of  Sense  of  Responsi- 
bility.—This  is  largely  a  matter  of  interest,  especially  as 
regards  job  and  plant  pride.  Of  course,  it  is  affected  by  such 
things  as  general  intelligence  and  maturity.  Many  cases  that 
are  assumed  off-hand  to  be  due  to  lack  of  any  sense  of  respon- 
sibility, and  which  are  often  handled  on  that  basis,  are  really 
due  to  ignorance. 

In  considering  such  cases  here,  it  will  be  assumed  that  the 
possibility  of  ignorance  has  been  cut  out,  since  in  many  cases 
apparent  lack  of  sense  of  responsibility  has  been  removed 
by  proper  instruction. 

Where  there  is  actual  lack  of  sense  of  responsibility  in 
connection  with  unnecessary  absenteeism,  it  is  probably  due 
to  lack  of  interest  or  dissatisfaction,  as  discussed  in  Part 
VII,  and  the  methods  for  promoting  interest  and  satis- 
faction suggested  there  can  be  used  here  to  advantage. 

Unnecessary  Absence  Due  to  Laziness.— As  an  example 
of  this,  a  number  of  cases  are  known  where  workers  can  earn 
enough  money  in  two  or  three  days  to  last  them  through  the 
week,  and  as  soon  as  they  have  enough  to  go  on,  they 
"knock  off  until  they  are  broke."  In  other  words,  "they  only 
work  as  much  as  they  have  to."  Of  course,  this  situation  is 
most  likely  to  come  up  with  certain  classes  of  workers,  who 
are,  as  a  whole,  ignorant  and  immature.  For  example,  it  is 
said  to  be  true  of  certain  kinds  of  Negro  help  in  the  South. 


IM 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


Of  course,  such  a  condition  is  hard  to  handle  and,  in  theory, 
the  obvious  way  of  dealing  with  it  is  not  to  employ  such 
people,  but  sometimes  this  cannot  be  avoided,  and  a  foreman 
may  have  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  reducing  absences  due 
to  laziness  by  other  means. 

Among  the  most  effective  means  of  dealing  with  such  a 
situation  are  the  qualities  of  personal  leadership.  As  a  rule, 
ignorant  and  immature  workers  are  very  responsive  to  good 
leadership.  They  will  work  for  a  man  that  they  like  and 
admire,  and  a  foreman  who  can  do  it,  can  improve  the  situa- 
tion greatly  if  he  knows  how  to  "get"  this  class  of  workers. 
For  example,  in  one  large  concern  in  the  South,  employing 
many  workers  of  this  type,  the  majority  of  them  worked 
hard  and  steadily  during  the  war  because  the  management 
was  made  up  of  men  whom  they  trusted  and  believed  in.  They 
would  not  work  for  themselves,  but  they  would  work  for  the 
men  who  were  responsible  for  the  success  of  the  plant.    It  was 

a  personal  matter. 

Handling  Cases. — ^The  preceding  statements  indicate  cer- 
tain things  that  a  foreman  can  take  into  consideration  in 
dealing  with  absenteeism.  In  the  first  place  he  can  study 
the  case  and  make  sure  that  it  is  or  is  not  a  case  of  ignorance. 
If  it  is,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  see  that  the  worker  under- 
stands the  results  of  absenteeism  on  the  work  of  the  depart- 
ment or  on  the  work  of  other  workers.  If,  after  a  reasonable 
attempt  to  make  this  clear,  unnecessary  absenteeism  con- 
tinues, the  case  can  be  classed  as  either  due  to  lack  gf 
sense  of  responsibility  or  to  laziness,  and  must  be  handled 
along  human  factor  lines  as  discussed  in  the  chapters  on 

those  subjects. 

The  underlying  principle,  however,  is  that  replacement 
cost  always  comes  into  consideration,  and  if  absenteeism  can 
be  reduced  without  losing  the  worker,  a  good  managerial  job 
has  been  done.  Of  course,  when  it  becomes  evident  that  un- 
necessary absenteeism  is  persistent  and  that  the  absentee  can- 
not be  reached  by  the  use  of  managerial  methods,  the  problem 


merely  becomes  one  of  replacing  that  worker  with  another 
who  is  more  reliable  and  standing  the  replacement  cost. 

The  great  danger  is  that  the  case  will  be  handled  off-hand, 
and  the  plant  will  be  put  to  unnecessary  replacement  cost 
where  careful  study  of  the  case  and  good  management  would 
save  the  experienced  worker  to  the  concern,  and  so  reduce  cost. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem — Necessary  Absence. — ^As  al- 
ready pointed  out,  necessary  absence  cannot  be  avoided,  but 
can  be  anticipated  and  planned  for  so  as  to  reduce  the  neces- 
sary cost  elements  to  a  minimum.  Among  the  managerial  de- 
vices for  doing  this  are,  as  is  well  known  to  all  foremen : 

1.  The  organization  of  a  "flying  squadron"  or  a  "swing- 
in  gang." 

2.  The  training  of  "understudies." 

3.  "Doubling  up." 

Since  all  of  these  devices  are  well  known  to  all  foremen, 
they  are  only  suggested  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  cer- 
tain facts  in  connection  with  their  use  that  may  be  of  value 
in  using  them.  Of  course,  with  a  properly  balanced  and  dis- 
tributed working  force,  any  absenteeism  means  an  excess  cost 
and  the  use  of  any  of  these  schemes  is  only  a  means  of  reduc- 
ing this  cost ;  not  cutting  it  out,  so  that,  in  a  way,  it  is  always 
a  "choice  between  evils,"  and  each  specml  case  must  be  con- 
sidered with  regard  to  the  special  conditions,  the  particular 
job,  etc.  It  may  be  that  the  cheapest  thing  to  do  is  to  do 
nothing;  this  might  be  true,  for  example,  where  the  job  was 
on  piecework  and  the  only  loss  was  the  loss  of  production  on 
that  special  job;  whereas,  in  another  case,  the  job  might  be 
a  "key  job"  that  must  be  covered  if  a  considerable  excess  cost 
IS  to  be  prevented.  In  deciding  on  ways  and  means,  each  case 
must  be  worked  out  with  regard  to  all  such  points. 

The  "Swing-in  Gang."— -Where  there  are  a  number  of 
jobs  in  the  department,  as  in  the  case  of  serial  operations,  in 
a  garment  factory,  or  a  series  of  assembling  jobs,  as  in  a 
shipyard,  one  managerial  device  for  dealing  with  absenteeism 
18  to  have,  in  the  departmental  operating  force,  a  certain 


i*«i| 


156 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


number  of  workers  who  can  do  a  number  of  different  jobs  and 
"swing  them  in"  to  take  care  of  jobs  where  the  regular 
workers  are  absent.  Of  course,  this  plan  works  the  best 
where  the  work  jobs  in  the  department  are  specialized. 

Where  such  a  plan  is  tried  it  means,  of  course,  an  excess 
cost,  if  the  members  of  this  "swing-in  gang"  are  regularly 
carried  on  the  payroll*  and  the  question  is  to  consider  the 
excess  cost  against  the  cost  of  absenteeism  that  shuts  down 
certain  jobs  entirely. 

The  value  of  such  a  device  to  meet  the  cost  elements  due 
to  absenteeism  depends  on  the  degree  to  which  the  make-up 
of  the  gang  and  the  different  jobs  that  they  can  do  is  based 
upon  a  careful  study  of  the  special  nature  of  the  work  jobs 
in  the  department,  the  amount  of  absence  and  the  character 
of  the  operations  and  processes,  and  any  foreman  who  is 
interested  in  this  device  must  determine  for  himself  whether 
or  not  it  would  work  well  in  his  special  case.  It  is  mentioned 
here  because  it  is  a  not  uncommon  plan  in  certain  cases  with 
certain  lines  of  production. 

"Understudies." — ^Another  managerial  device  that  may 
sometimes  be  of  service  in  reducing  cost  due  to  absence  of 
certain  workers  is  to  provide  "understudies"  for  workers  on 
what  may  be  called  "key"  jobs.  By  a  "key  job"  is  meant 
a  job  that  will  hold  up  one  or  more  other  jobs  if  it  stops. 
This  might  be  true,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  an  inspector 
or  possibly  a  cutter  in  a  garment  factory  or  a  shoe  factory, 
or  in  the  case  of  a  special  pattern  maker  or  tool  maker  on 
special  hurry  up  work. 

Since  with  a  properly  balanced  operating  force  there  is 
no  excess  of  workers,  at  least  in  theory,  when  an  understudy 
is  put  on  a  job,  he  must  evidently  be  pulled  off  some  other 
job,  so  that  the  cost  saving  comes  in  keeping  the  key  job 
going  at  the  expense  of  some  job  that  is  less  important. 
Whether  this  plan  will,  or  will  not  work  to  advantage  in  the 

♦Where  this  plan  is  used  it  is  customary  to  pay  such  "all  around" 
woricers  some  additional  rate. 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  157 

case  of  any  given  foreman  that  may  have  this  special  respon- 
sibility included  in  his  job  is  a  question  of  the  nature  of  the 
product  and  the  special  organization.  It  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  the  least  cost  increase  will  be  involved  where  the 
understudy  is  taken  from  a  group  of  workers  where  the  "hole" 
made  by  the  temporary  transfer  can  be  filled  by  "doubling 
up"  or  by  some  other  managerial  device. 

The  General  Advantage  of  Understudies.— In  the  sense 
in  which  the  term  is  used  here,  "understudy"  means  somebody 
regularly  employed  on  some  other  job  who  is  sufficiently  up 
on  another  job  to  be  able  to  keep  it  going  when  the  regular 
individual  on  that  job  is  absent.  The  value  of  having  such 
"understudies"  for  every  job  in  the  department  is  evident 
since  the  necessity  is  avoided  of  putting  on  an  untrained 
worker  when  a  "swing-in  worker"  is  not  available  or  when 
such  a  gang  is  not  a  part  of  the  organization. 

The  great  difficulty  in  developing  understudies  for  the 
different  work  jobs  in  the  department  is  that  the  regular 
worker  usually  gets  the  notion  that  the  understudy  is  "in 
line"  for  his  job  and  naturally  resents  it  and  sometimes 
"lays"  for  him  in  various  ways  well  known  to  shop  workers. 
The  handling  of  this  problem  calls  for  very  careful  man- 
agement on  the  part  of  the  foreman  if  he  undertakes  to 
include  this  managerial  device  in  his  organization.     Its  suc- 
cess or  failure  depends  almost  entirely  on  the  degree  to  which 
he  has  the  reputation  of  being  "square"  and  of  telling  the 
truth  as  discussed  in  Part  VII.     If  he  has  not  that  repu- 
tation, he  would  better  not  undertake  the  job;  if  he  has,  he 
can  get  the  regular  worker,  under  most  conditions,  to  see  what 
the  purpose  of  the  arrangement  is,  and  to  stand  for  it.    Of 
course,  in  some  cases,  he  cannot  allay  the  suspicions  of  the 
regular  worker,  and  in  that  case  he  may  have  to  hold  off  till 
there  is  a  change,  but  the  attempt  to  put  the  thing  over  by 
the  mere  arbitrary  exercise  of  authority  is  not  likely  to  work 
^ell.     The  question  as  to  whether  this  particular  device 


!ri| 


158 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


should  be  tried  in  any  given  department  is  a  question  to  be 
worked  out  by  each  foreman  on  the  basis  of  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  special  conditions  as  to  the  character  of  the  jobs, 
the  relations  that  exist  between  himself  and  the  working 
force  and  other  conditions  that  count. 

Doubling  Up. — ^As  used  here,  this  term  means  giving  a 
worker  who,  under  proper  conditions,  has  all  that  he  should  be 
expected  to  do,  additional  operating  points  to  cover  so  that 
the  absentee's  job  can  be  kept  going.  Of  course,  this  can 
only  be  done  at  a  production  loss  and  is  merely  choosing  the 
lesser  of  two  evils,  crippling  two  jobs  or  stopping  one  en- 
tirely. Such  a  managerial  device  to  deal  with  temporary  loss 
may,  or  may  not,  greatly  increase  cost,  according  to  the 
degree  to  which  the  worker  who  doubles  knows  the  second 
job  or  requires  little  instruction  on  it  to  enable  him  to  carry 
it  well  enough  to  meet  the  emergency. 

In  doubling  up,  the  more  the  additional  job  is  like  the 
"original"  job  the  less  the  excess  cost.  For  example,  in  a 
textile  mill,  a  weaver  can  double  up  on  sets  of  looms,  and 
the  only  loss  would  be  on  idle  looms  waiting  to  be  pieced  up, 
but  if  he  were  asked  to  cover  spinning  frames  as  well  as 
looms  (practically  an  impossible  combination)  and  Jaquards 
as  well  as  plain  looms,  trouble  would  be  much  more  likely 
to  ensue. 

Where  this  device  has  to  be  resorted  to,  there  are  some 
points  that,  if  taken  into  consideration,  will  reduce  the  in- 
evitable excess  cost  on  operation.  Among  the  more  import- 
ant of  these  is  the  fact  that  among  all  the  jobs  in  the  depart- 
ment, especiaUy  in  the  case  of  machine  tending  jobs  or  of 
specialized  jobs,  some  have  many  more  similar  or  common 
operations  than  others,  so  that,  in  doubling  up,  if  the  extra 
job  is  partly  like  the  regular  job  the  cost  is  less  than  where 
the  worker  is  entirely  green  on  the  additional  job. 

As  in  a  number  of  other  cases,  the  job  analysis  will  show 
such  "overlaps"  on  different  jobs  and  is  the  best  aid  in  work- 
ing out  doubling  up  problems  to  the  best  advantage. 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  159 

SECTION  IV.  KEEPING  UP  THE  WOEKING  FOECE  IN  THE  DEPAET- 

MENT PEEMANENT    LOSS 

Preliminary.— The  last  section  dealt  with  cost  elements 
and  managerial  problems  on  temporary  loss  where  the  prob- 
lem is  to  keep  the  work  going,  but  not  to  add  to  the  working 
force  because  the  absentee  has  not  quit,  and  so  the  working 
force  has  not  been  permanently  reduced.  As  pointed  out  in 
Section  I,  the  second  class  of  loss  is  where  this  loss  is  per- 
manent: the  worker  has  quit,  been  transferred,  or  has 
been  discliarged. 

This  condition  sets  up  a  totally  different  set  of  cost  ele- 
ments and  corresponding  managerial  problems  for  a  foreman 
to  deal  with  where  he  has  any  responsibilities  in  this  connec- 
tion, and  some  considerations  relating  to  the  effective  dis- 
charge of  these  possible  responsibilities  are  therefore  pre- 
sented in  this  section. 

Cost  Elements^Replacement  Cost.-.The  essential  final 
cost  element  here  is  what  is  known  as  replacement  cost,  and 
it  is  only  recently  that  much  attention  has  been  given  to  its 
cost  producing  effect. 

The  idea  involved  in  the  use  of  this  term  may  be  stated 
as  follows:  "Whenever  a  worker  quits  for  any  cause  what- 
ever, if  his  job  must  still  be  carried  on  in  the  same  way,  that 
person  carries  with  him  a  certain  amount  of  plant  knowledge, 
job  knowledge  and  job  skill  that  it  costs  money  to  replace 
unless  he  can  be  replaced  at  once  by  an  equally  competent  and 
equally  well  informed  worker." 

This  is  true,  because  under  practically  all  circumstances, 
a  new  worker  on  that  job  must  be  trained  somehow,  and  that 
training  costs  money,  no  matter  how  it  is  done.  Of  course, 
the  amount  of  this  replacement  cost  depends  upon  the  nature 
of  the  job,  but  it  always  exists,  and  recent  studies  have  shown 
that,  in  many  cases,  it  is  much  larger  than  has  been  supposed, 
^ecially  on  specialized  jobs.* 

♦For  a  fuller  discussion  of  replacement  cost,  see  "The  Instructor. 
The  Man  and  The  Job."  * 


100 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


161 


Cost  Elements — ^Permanent  Loss. — ^Among  the  more 
common  cost  elements  that  may  come  into  the  matter  of 
keeping  up  the  working  force  when  it  is  reduced  below  oper- 
ating needs  through  permanent  loss  are : 

(1)  The  promptness  with  which  a  new  worker  is  put  on 
the  job. 

(2)  The  degree  to  which  the  new  worker  can  do  the  job 
without  instruction,  that  is,  he  already  knows  that  job. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem, 
therefore,  is  to  fill  immediately  any  vacancies  with  competent 
workers,  at  the  least  cost  for  finding  the  worker  and  getting 
him  on  the  job  at  once. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.-— While  the  problem,  as  just 
stated,  is  simple  enough,  dealing  with  it  sets  up  one  of  the 
most  difficult  managerial  problems  that  come  up  in  connec- 
tion with  keeping  up  the  working  force,  and  one,  which,  in 
many  plants,  is  handled  at  unnecessary  cost,  owing  to  a  num- 
ber of  reasons,  some  of  which  are  considered  in  the  following 
paragraphs.  Among  these  reasons,  or  specific  cost  ele- 
ments, are: 

(1)  Where  there  is  an  employment  department,  lack  of 
cooperation  between  foremen  and  that  department,  sometimes 
going  so  far  as  to  become  actual  antagonism. 

(2)  Lack  of  advance  planning  to  reduce  replacement  cost 
to  a  minimum. 

Since  these  specific  cost  elements  may  be  of  great  import- 
ance, they  are  discussed  in  some  detail  in  the  following  para- 
graphs, with  regard  to  the  specific  managerial  problems,  the 
detailed  cost  elements,  and  questions  of  dealing  with 
these  problems. 

Lack  of  Cooperation.— Where  there  is  an  Employment 
Department  that  has  the  direct  responsibility  of  securing 
workers  it  is  not  unconmion  to  find  that  there  is  more  or  less 
lack  of  cooperation  between  this  department  and  the  fore- 
men who  take  these  workers  into  their  departments  to  hold 
down  the  work  jobs.     In  some  cases  this  is  especially  true 


where  a  foreman  has  the  responsibility  of  requisitioning  on 
the  Employment  Department  for  help  or  is  expected,  under 
the  procedure,  to  advise  that  department  as  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  job  for  which  the  additional  workers  are  needed. 
This  lack  of  cooperation  between  the  Employment  Depart- 
ment and  the  foreman  is  often  an  important  cost  element  in 
keeping  up  the  working  force  and  so  is  discussed  here  in 
some  detail. 

While  the  general  principles  of  cooperation,  as  discussed 
in  Chapter  XXII,  apply  here  as  well  as  anywhere  else,  and 
cost  will  go  up  or  down  in  proportion  as  the  cooperation  is 
good  or  bad,  there  are  some  causes  that  are  worth  mention- 
ing and  discussing  here  because  the  special  conditions  often 
prevent  the  matter  from  being  looked  at  in  its  true  light. 

Some  Reasons.— Among  the  reasons  for  this  lack  of 
cooperation  or  effective  discharge  of  "team  responsibilities" 
are  the  following: 

1.  Some  foremen  feel  that  the  Employment  Department 
does  not  act  promptly  enough  in  securing  men  when  they  are 
needed  and  holds  up  production  by  leaving  them  with  uncov- 
ered jobs  for  a  greater  or  less  time,  thus  hampering  them  in 
getting  out  the  work. 

2.  In  some  cases  foremen  feel  that  they  could  get  addi- 
tional workers  quicker  and  better  than  any  other  agency 
could  because  they  are  closer  to  the  situation. 

3.  In  other  cases  foremen  feel  that  an  Employment  De- 
partment is  "butting  into  their  job"  and  so  are  not  inclined 
to  cooperate  as  they  should. 

Of  course,  the  following  discussion  has  no  application  if 
the  foreman,  under  the  standard  procedure,  hires  directly, 
but  since  in  most  large  plants  his  responsibility  is  a  recom- 
mending one  rather  than  an  acting  one,  in  many  cases  the 
points  raised  here  will  have  some  application  and  are 
worth  consideration. 

The  first  case  suggested  in  the  last  paragraph  really 
turns  upon  the  fact  that  the  business  starts  zoith  the  foreman 

11 


"fl'r^n^ 


162 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


and  the  degree  to  which  he  can  anticipate  any  need  for  taking 
on  additional  workers  and  get  his  requisitions  in  promptly, 
even  in  advance  if  possible,  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference  in 
the  time  required  for  the  Employment  Department  to  "fill 
the  order."  If  a  foreman  waits  until  the  job  is  standing 
vacant  and  then  shoots  in  a  requisition  he  cannot  fairly 
blame  the  Employment  Department  if  the  necessary  help  is 
not  produced  in  ten  minutes.*  Where  delay  is  due  to  this 
cause  a  foreman  had  better  consider  ways  and  means  for  dis- 
charging his  responsibilities  in  better  shape  before  he  "bawls 
out"  the  Employment  Department  for  being  "dead  on  the 
job."  Of  course,  in  many  cases  a  foreman  does  the  best  he 
can  and  the  delay  may  be  straight  up  to  the  Employment  De- 
partment ;  they  may  have  really  fallen  down  on  the  job,  but 
wherever  a  foreman  feels  that  he  is  all  right  and  the  other 
fellow  is  all  wrong  in  this  matter,  he  will  do  well  to  be  sure 
that  his  skirts  are  clear  before  he  blames  the  whole  matter  on 
the  other  fellow. 

The  second  case  is  often  due  more  to  a  failure  to  under- 
stand why  the  job  of  hunting  up  additional  workers  is  turned 
over  to  somebody  else  instead  of  being  left  to  the  foreman 
as  in  the  old  days  and  even  sometimes  now  in  the  case  of  small 
shops  or  plants  that  are  less  highly  organized.  It  is,  of 
course,  perfectly  natural  for  a  man  to  think,  "I  need  a  man 
right  away;  there  is  Bill  Jones,  just  the  man  that  I  want 
and  I  can  get  him  without  any  trouble ;  he  is  looking  for  a 
job,  why  in  thunder  need  I  go  through  the  red  tape  of  putting 
in  a  requisition  and  waiting  for  the  'machinery  to  revolve' 
instead  of  attending  to  the  job  myself."  Now  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that,  in  that  particular  case,  the  job  might  be  done 
cheaper  by  the  "direct"  method,  but  multiply  that  case  by 
any  number,  and  how  is  a  foreman  to  attend  to  his  regular 
job  and  also  run  a^'ound  looking  up  Bill  Joneses.    If  he  has 

*It  should  be  noted  that  the  discussion  as  it  is  put  up  here,  does  not 
include  the  question  of  providing  the  necessary  job  knowledge,  job  skill 
or  other  special  qualifications,  as  this  part  of  the  matter  is  taken  up  in 
a  following  section.  This  section  deals  only  with  the  matter  of  securing 
additional  workers,  without  regard  to  special  job  requirements. 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  IX)RCE  163 

a  real  job  as  a  foreman,  he  can't  do  it,  and,  if  he  has  really 
studied  his  responsibilities  and  knows  what  his  job  really  is, 
he  knows  that  he  can't  do  it,  and  is  glad  to  have  the  detailed 
work  of  keeping  up  his  working  force  attended  to  by  some- 
body else,  provided  he  can  get  good  service  in  that  way.  In 
fact,  an  Employment  Department  is  really  only  a  service  de- 
partment for  the  foreman  just  as  much  as  a  maintenance  de- 
partment or  a  transportation  department ;  it  relieves  him  of 
some  details  so  that  he  can  attend  to  his  real  job  easier  and 
more  efficiently,  but  in  order  that  this  service  can  be  rendered 
effectively,  the  two  must  pull  together,  and  not  pull  apart. 

SECTION  V.    PEOVIDING  THE  NECESSAEY  KNOWLEDGE  AND  SKILL 
ON   ALL   WORK   JOBS   IN    THE   DEPARTMENT 

Preliminary.— In  discussing  possible  responsibilities  in 
Chapter  XI  it  was  pointed  out  that  one  specific  responsibility 
might  be  to  cover  all  operating  points  with  workers  who 
have  the   necessary   minimum   strength,  knowledge  or  job 
skill  and  that,  since  if  this  was  not  done,  the  job  must  stop: 
such  responsibilities,  if  they  came  into  the  job  of  any  given 
foreman,  would  constitute  supervisory  responsibilities.    This 
section  considers  some  of  the  possible  cost  elements  that  may 
come  up  in  connection  with  the  discharge  of  such  supervisory 
responsibilities,  and  the  corresponding  managerial  problems 
that  come  out  of  them.    As  in  all  other  cases,  the  discussion 
IS  not  complete  nor  are  all  possibilities,  either  as  to  the  man- 
agerial problems  themselves  or  as  to  the  possible  ways  and 
means  of  dealing  with  the  problem  completely  considered. 
Each  foreman  whose  responsibility  lay-out  includes  such  re- 
sponsibilities must  work  out  his  own  problems,  according  to 
his  special  conditions,  and  the  discussion  is  intended  to  help 
him  to  handle  his  own  special  problem  rather  than  to  tell  him 
exactly  what  to  do. 

"Richard's  Formula." — In  the  chapter  on  job  analysis  it 
was  pointed  out  that  in  doing  any  job  we  really  had  to  deal 
With  a  "team"  made  up  of  the  worker  and  the  tools  or  the 


i 


i.'  f 


164 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  JX)RCE 


165 


machine  and  that,  in  analyzing  the  job  of  this  team, the  opera- 
tions could  be  divided  into  two  kinds  of  operating  points, 
human  and  machine.  The  lay-out  of  human  operating  points 
can  be  conveniently  expressed  by  what  is  known  as  Richards' 
formula,*  which  is  as  f oUows : 

E=M+T+I 

where  E  stands  for  the  ability  to  do  the  job,  whatever  it  may 
be,  in  first-class  shape,  M  stands  for  the  necessary  job  skill 
with  the  hands  (manual  skill) ,  T  stands  for  the  necessary  spe- 
cial "job"  knowledge  (technical  knowledge),  and  I  stands  for 
the  necessary  ability  to  use  one's  "head  on  the  job"  (trade 
intelligence).  In  discussing  matter  in  connection  with  job 
analysis,  it  is  customary,  for  brevity,  to  speak  of  the  "M," 
"T"and  "I"  'Sralues"on  the  job,  using  these  terms  in  the  sense 
in  which  they  are  discussed  in  the  following  paragraphs.! 

Job  Skill  or  the  **M"  Values  on  the  Job. — ^Any  given  job 
requires  some  sort  of  special  skill  that  goes  with  that  par- 
ticular job  and  any  worker  who  can  properly  cover  the  human 
operating  points  on  that  job  must  possess  that  special  skill. 
This  job  skill  is,  of  course,  different  for  different  jobs,  but  is 
always  present  to  some  extent.  For  example,  in  a  machine 
shop,  when  a  piece  of  work  is  to  be  scraped  to  a  surface, 
scraping  skill  is  required.  A  carpenter,  putting  in  a  window 
casing,  possesses  the  special  skill  necessary  for  setting  up  and 
fitting.  In  a  boiler  shop  cutting  a  sheet  of  steel  with  an 
acetylene  torch  calls  for  a  high  degree  of  skill  in  handling  the 
torch,  regulating  the  flow  of  gases,  etc.  Even  a  "pick  and 
shovel  job"  calls  for  a  special  skill  in  handling  the  tools  to 
the  best  advantage. 

When  we  speak  of  the  "M  values"  on  the  job  we,  there- 
fore, simply  mean  whatever  special  "hand  skill"  goes  with 
the  human  operating  points  on  that  job.     If  that  special 

•  So  called  because  it  was  first  developed  by  Professor  Charles  B. 
Richards,  of  Cooper  Union,  New  York. 

f  Foremen  who  may  be  interested  to  follow  this  matter  further  will 
find  it  taken  up  quite  fully  in  Bulletin  52,  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  Washington,  and  in  "  The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The  Job. 


skill  is  not  possessed  by  a  worked  who  is  assigned  to  that  job, 
the  result  is  an  increased  cost  due  to  less  work  being  turned 
out,  or  to  poorer  quality  of  work,  or  to  a  total  loss  on  the 
job  according  to  luck  and  the  special  conditions. 

Job  Knowledge  or  the  "T"  Values  on  the  Job.— In  addi- 
tion to  the  "M  values,"  as  described  in  the  last  paragraph, 
on  all  operating  points,  some  particular  knowledge  must  be 
possessed  by  the  person  who  has  to  cover  them.  Different 
jobs  in  the  same  trade  and  different  trades  call  for  entirely 
different  kinds  and  degrees  of  this  trade  or  job  knowledge. 
For  example,  in  hanging  wall  paper,  the  kind  of  knowledge 
used  by  a  paper  hanger  in  allowing  for  the  lapping  of  courses, 
in  matching  designs,  and  in  figuring  the  number  of  rolls  re- 
quired, goes  with  his  job  but  with  nobody  else's  job.  A 
machinist,  in  operating  a  lathe,  knows  how  to  read  his  gear 
table,  how  to  tell  when  he  is  getting  the  right  cut,  how  to  read 
micrometers  or  vernier  calipers,  etc.,  which  are  examples  of 
the  special  kind  of  job  knowledge  that  goes  with  that  job. 

Trade  or  job  knowledge  might,  therefore,  be  called  the 
"know  how"  or  the  "T  values"  that  go  with  any  given  trade 
or  job,  and  which  are  only  required  in  that  trade  or  on  that 
job,  but  without  which  the  trade  cannot  be  followed  or  the 
job  cannot  be  done.  If  this  "T  value"  is  not  possessed  by 
whoever  is  assigned  to  a  given  job,  cost  goes  up  just  as  in 
the  case  of  the  "M  values,"  and  if  it  is  absolutely  lacking, 
the  job  cannot  be  done  at  all. 

Trade  or  Job  Intelligence— The  "I"  Values  on  the  Job.— 
In  addition  to  the  M  and  T  values  as  just  discussed,  the  "I" 
in  Richard's  formula  stands  for  the  ability  to  "use  one's  head 
on  the  job,"  that  is,  for  trade  or  job  intelligence.  On  any 
given  job  this  "I"  value  may  be  large  or  small,  but  it  is  rarely 
entirely  lacking.  It  is  the  possession  of  this  "I"  value  that 
gives  an  experienced  man  an  advantage  over  an  inexperienced 
man,  even  when  the  job  is  a  very  simple  one  or  one  that  is 
mainly  machine  in  its  operating  points. 

Indexing  Jobs.— A  convenient  means  of  indicating  the 


ii 


;i 


166 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


167 


various  degrees  to  which  different  jobs  require  M,  T  and  I 
values  is  by  using  what  is  called  an  index  figure  for  any  given 
job  or  occupation.  In  considering  any  given  trade  or  job, 
in  proportion  as  these  M,  T  and  I  values  are  high,  the  index 
figure  would  be  high ;  in  proportion  as  they  are  low,  the  index 
figure  w  ould  be  low.  For  example,  in  operating  an  automatic 
gear  cutter  the  M,  T  and  I  values  are  much  smaller  than  in 
getting  out  the  same  gear  on  a  universal  miller,  and  this  fact 
could  be  indicated  by  giving  the  miller  job  a  higher 
index  figure. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  use  of  the  index  figure  is  merely 
a  device  for  expressing  more  quickly  and  somewhat  more 
accurately  what  we  mean  when  we  talk  about  "skilled  jobs," 
"semi-skilled  jobs"  and  **unskilled  jobs." 

Use  of  the  Index  Figure.— The  device  of  the  index  figure 
can  be  used  both  to  indicate  the  M,  T  and  I  values  in  trades 
and  in  jobs.  As  a  matter  of  convenience,  it  is  customary  to 
index  on  a  scale  of  100,  although  any  other  base,  say  10  or 
1000,  might  be  used  as  well.  In  general,  where  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  skill  (high  M)  and  a  great  deal  of  technical 
or  job  knowledge  (T  and  I)  the  index  figure  is  high;  under 
the  reverse  conditions,  low.  For  example,  as  between  jobs, 
tending  a  ring  spinning  frame  or  an  automatic  screw  machine 
would  be  indexed  lower  than  cutting  a  spiral  gear  on  a  uni- 
versal miller  or  doing  a  fine  piece  of  jointry  work.  In  the 
same  way  what  are  commonly  known  as  skilled  trades  would 
be  indexed  higher  than  "semi-skilled"  occupations,  and  these, 
in  turn,  indexed  higher  than  "unskilled"  occupations.  An 
occupation  requiring  the  ability  to  do  a  great  many  jobs 
calling  for  much  skill  and  knowledge  would  be  indexed  higher 
than  one  calling  for  a  command  of  only  a  few  jobs  demanding 
less  skill  and  less  knowledge,  although,  mthin  those  limits,  the 
skill  might  be  as  great  and  the  knowledge  as  important. 

It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  this  index  figure  is 
not  a  mathematical  value  or  a  percentage,  but  merely  a  con- 
venient device  for  roughly  indicating,  in  a  general  way,  cer- 


tain facts  as  to  the  M,  T  and  I  values  in  the  job  or  trade  or 
occupation  under  consideration  and  merely  enables  one  to 
put  over  quickly  what  would  otherwise  require  a  considerable 
statement.  For  such  use,  in  discussion,  it  has  proved  useful 
and  so  is  described  briefly  here  as  of  possible  use  in  fore- 
men's conferences  in  connection  with  such  matters  as  train- 
ing, job  requirements  and  so  on. 

General  Qualifications.— In  addition  to  the  M,  T  and  I 
values  in  Richard's  formula,  which  stand  for  what  the  worker 
can  do  and  what  he  knows  about  doing  the  job,  it  is  a  matter 
of  common  knowledge  that  most  jobs  also  call  for  certain 
general  qualifications,  as,  for  example,  the  sense  of  accuracy, 
the  ability  to  read  or  write,  reliability,  quickness  in  an  emer- 
gency and  so  on.     Certain  jobs,  such  as  those  of  pilot  on  a 
steamer  or  engineer  on  a  locomotive  cannot  be  safely  given 
to  men  who  are  color  blind  and  so  cannot  distinguish  red 
from  green  signal  lights.    The  following  list  of  possible  gen- 
eral qualifications  is  merely  intended  to  be  suggestive  of  a 
similar  list  that  might  be  made  up  to  indicate  the  general 
requirements  of  the  jobs  in  any  given  department  in  any 
particular  plant,  and  does  not  pretend  to  be  either  complete 
or  correct  for  any  one  set  of  working  conditions.     It  will  be 
noted  that  these  general  qualifications  are  classified  under  two 
headings,  Physical  requirements  and  Mental  requirements. 
Physical.  Mental. 

Heavy  Ability  to  read 

I^jg^t  Ability  to  write 

Short  Ability   to   speak 

^  ^}1  language 

Q^^ck  Ability  to  use  arithmetic 

S^ow  Mental  quickness 

Eyesight  (keen)  Reliability 

Hearing  (keen)  Nerves 

Physical  Handicaps  (handi-  Disposition 
caps  that  prevent  a  man   Adaptability 
from   being   able    to   hold  Personality 
^hat  job)  Nationality 


foreign 


168 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


CX)ST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


169 


As  stated  above  these  are  merely  suggestive  and,  for  pur- 
poses of  illustration,  a  few  of  them  are  considered  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

Physical  Qualifications. — On  most  jobs  a  man  has  to  use 
some  physical  equipment ;  he  must  see,  or  hear,  or  in  general 
perform  some  physical  actions  in  covering  the  human  operat- 
ing points.  The  special  demands  made  in  any  given  case 
vary  with  the  nature  of  the  operating  points  and  cost  is 
affected  by  the  degree  to  which  any  given  person  possesses 
the  necessary  physical  qualifications  required  in  that  special 
case.  A  blacksmith's  striker  must  have  the  physical  strength 
to  strike  a  solid  blow  and  endurance  to  keep  up  the  job  dur- 
ing the  working  day.  A  man  operating  a  linotype  must  have 
quick  fingers  and  good  eyesight.  A  truck  driver  must  be  able 
to  think  quickly  in  an  emergency  if  he  is  to  prevent  a  smash- 
up.  A  man  with  only  one  hand  would  evidently  be  at  a  great 
disadvantage  in  attempting  to  handle  a  job  that  called  for 
the  use  of  two  hands  at  the  same  time,  say  in  operating  a  car 
with  change  gear  levers,  but  might  be  all  right  on  a  Ford. 
On  some  operating  points  a  man  who  is  slow  and  "heavy" 
but  sure  may  be  just  what  is  wanted,  while,  on  another  job, 
a  man  who  is  "quick  as  a  cat"  is  the  fellow  to  fill  the  bill,  say 
as  catcher  on  a  baseball  team.  Of  course,  such  facts  as  are 
given  above  are  well  known  to  aU  foremen  and  are  only  men- 
tioned here  for  illustration  as  distinguishing  such  physical 
qualifications  from  mental  qualifications  as  discussed  in  the 
next  paragraph. 

Mental  Qualifications. — ^In  assigning  workers  to  jobs,  the 
matter  of  mental  qualifications  is  likely  to  receive  less  con- 
sideration than  that  of  physical  qualifications,  because  this 
side  of  the  matter  has  only  recently  been  given  much  atten- 
tion, although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  possibly  the  more 
important  of  the  two. 

On  some  jobs,  or  operating  points,  the  best  person  to 
cover  them  may  be  somebody  who  thinks  slowly,  does  not  get 
rattled,  and  who  can  be  depended  upon  to  always  follow 


routine  exactly.  Such  a  case  might  be  that  of  taking  samples 
for  chemical  testing  in  a  chemical  plant  where  the  amount 
taken  is  standardized,  the  procedure  is  prescribed  and  no 
variation  from  that  procedure  is  wanted.  The  same  might 
be  true  in  tending  looms  in  a  cotton  mill  or  in  operating 
automatic  gear  cutters.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  engine 
room  the  chances  of  sudden  emergencies  coming  up  that  may 
call  for  quick  action  to  prevent  serious  damage  requires 
that  the  man  on  the  job  can  do  some  things  on  the  "  mental 
jump  "  and  do  them  right. 

Again,  in  some  cases,  nationality  counts,  especially  where 
certain  jobs  have  been  taken  over  by  certain  nationalities  or 
where  the  job  is  a  "team  job"  as  in  riveting  or  in  piling  pots 
for  making  white  lead  by  the  Dutch  process,  or  in  any  other 
case  where  a  crew  is  required.  Under  such  conditions  the 
introduction  of  a  worker  of  a  different  nationality  into  the 
gang  will  often  seriously  break  up  the  work. 

Physical  Strength.— In  addition  to  the  M,  T  and  I  values 
on  the  job,  it  is  also  true  that  practically  all  human  operating 
points  on  jobs  call  for  some  exercise  of  physical  strength, 
sometimes  very  little,  but  sometimes  considerable.  Wherever 
this  matter  of  physical  strength  comes  in  it  also  becomes  a 
job  requirement,  although,  of  course,  in  the  case  of  most  pro- 
duction jobs  it  is  not  important  because  anybody  who  would 
be  employed  on  the  job  would  possess  the  necessary  strength, 
as,  for  example,  on  operating  looms  in  a  cotton  mill  or  in 
running  a  linotype  or  a  monotype,  or  an  automatic 
gear  cutter. 

Job  Requirements. — ^It  is  evident  that  for  any  given  job 
there  are  certain  requirements  as  to  M,  T  and  I  and  as  to 
physical  make-up  and  mental  qualifications  that  must  be  met 
if  the  job  is  to  be  properly  done  or  done  at  all  and  that  who- 
ever is  put  on  that  job  must  be  able  to  meet  those  special 
job  requirements,  that  is,  must  be  able  to  "hold  down  the 
job,"  because  he  does  possess  them. 

Cost  Elements. — ^In  connection  with  the  distribution  of 
the  working  force  from  the  standpoint  of  the  elements  of 


i 


#>i 


170 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


A 


Richard's  formula,  and  with  regard  to  general  qualifications 
and  strength,  where  this  comes  in  as  an  important  factor, 
some  of  the  more  important  cost  elements  may  be : 

1.  The  degree  to  which  the  right  kind  of  special  M,  T 
and  I  values  and  general  qualifications  are  secured  for 
that  job. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  they  are  completely  secured. 

3.  The  degree  to  which  no  excess  valtLCS  are  used  on 
the  job. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem, 
therefore,  is  to  secure  as  nearly  as  possible  on  each  depart- 
mental job  all  the  necessary  general  qualifications  and  M,  T 
and  I  values,  and  the  necessary  physical  strength  but  not  to 
put  on  any  job  a  worker  who  possesses  excess  values  of  M, 
T  and  I  for  that  job. 

Dealing  vdth  the  Problem.— In  dealing  with  this  prob- 
lem, whether  by  direct  action,  recommendation  or  suggestion, 
it  is  evident  that  a  foreman  must  take  into  consideration,  for 
each  job  in  his  department : 

1.  The  trade  or  job  skill  required  (M). 

2.  The  trade  or  job  knowledge  required  (T). 

3.  The  trade  or  job  intelligence  required  (I). 

4.  The  physical  requirements  necessary  (if  required). 

5.  The  general  qualifications  necessary. 

And  make  his  assignments  as  nearly  as  working  conditions 
will  admit  so  as  to  get  full  values  of  the  right  kind  but  not  to 
pay  for  wrong  value  or  excess  values. 

Since  assignments  are  in  practice  by  jobs  and  not  by 
operating  points  the  aim  of  a  foreman  would  be  to  cover  the 
job  as  a  whole  by  making  assignments  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  so  as  to  meet  the  requirements  of  all  the  operating 
points  on  the  job,  basing  his  action  on  the  actual  job  require- 
ments and  doing  the  best  that  he  can  with  the  qualifications 
of  the  workers  available ;  that  is,  in  practice,  he  is  confronted 
*'by  a  condition  and  not  a  theory." 

As  in  other  cases  that  have  been  considered,  this  prob- 
lem can  be  handled  by  guess  or  by  definite  study.     For  ex- 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE  171 

ample,  it  is  quite  possible  to  use  the  job  analyses  in  this  con- 
nection by  determining,  from  the  lay-out  of  the  human  oper- 
ating points  on  any  given  job,  what  the  requirements  are 
and  to  assemble  these  requirements  so  as  to  get  a  fair  state- 
ment of  the  conditions  that  must  be  met  if  the  job  is  to  be 
well  done  so  that  man  qualifications  can  be  matched  against 
job  requirements  and  requisitions  for  workers  can  be  based 
on  a  definite  knowledge  of  what  is  needed  to  get  good  results. 
There  is  danger  of  carrying  this  thing  too  far,  so  far  as  a 
foreman  is  concerned,  but,  if  in  the  discharge  of  any  responsi- 
bilities that  he  may  have  in  connection  with  the  assigning  of 
workers  to  jobs  he  gives  consideration  to  this  matter  he  can 
reduce  cost  very  materially  and,  where  there  is  an  employ- 
ment department,  he  can  cooperate  with  it  much  more  effec- 
tively and  intelligently  if  he  really  knows  what  he  wants  and 
why  he  wants  it  in  asking  for  additions  to  his  operating  force. 
Tests  for  Job  Requirements.— Very  many  tests  have  been 
devised  for  trying  out  prospective  workers  On  given  jobs  which 
are  intended  to  indicate  the  degree  to  which  a  >given  person 
possesses  the  desirable  qualifications  for  a  given  job.     Any 
foreman  who  is  interested  in  this  matter  will  find  ample  de- 
scriptions of  such  tests  in  trade  publications.     It  is  not 
assumed  in  this  discussion  that  a  foreman  would  have  the 
responsibility  of  using  such  tests,  if  they  were  employed  in 
his  plant,  but,  if  any  special  tests  of  this  character  are  used, 
he  might  well  inform  himself  as  to  what  they  were  so  that  he 
could  cooperate  more  intelligently  with  the  department  that 
was  using  them. 

It  is  assumed,  however,  that  where  a  foreman  has  any 
responsibility  for  assigning  men  to  jobs  in  his  department 
either  by  direct  action,  by  requisition  or  otherwise,  he  will,  as 
a  good  manager,  make  an  attempt  to  match  man  qualifica- 
tions to  job  requirements  as  suggested  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs. 

"Excess  Values."— Knowledge,  skill  and  job  intelligence 
cost  money  and  this  cost  varies  with  the  amount  of  such 


i 


'  I 


1i  " 


^Pl 


in 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


knowledge,  skill  and  intelligence,  as  well  as  with  the  special 
kind,  so  that,  if  an  individual  possesses  more  M,  T  or  I  than  is 
required  on  that  job  and  this  "excess  value"  could  be  used  on 
some  other  job,  cost  has  evidently  been  increased,  thus  put- 
ting a  "higher  index  man"  on  a  "lower  index  job."  Thus  it 
would  be  poor  economy  to  put  an  expert  tool  maker  on  an 
automatic  gear  cutter,  or  a  weaver  who  could  run  Jaquards 
on  plain  looms  on  low  counts,  or  a  cabinet  maker  on  shingling 
a  roof.  It  might  be  done,  but  it  would  be  expensive,  either  to 
the  man  who  was  not  getting  paid  for  all  his  trade  knowledge 
and  skill  or  to  the  employer  who  was  paying  him  for  only 
a  part  of  what  he  knew — in  either  case  a  bad  business  deal. 

As  a  manager,  a  foreman  will  do  a  good  job  in  proportion 
as  he  so  assigns  jobs  that  there  is  no  "excess";  he  will  not 
put  an  eighty-cent  man  on  a  forty-cent  job,  or  if,  under  spe- 
cial circumstances,  he  has  to  do  it,  he  will  see  that  that 
condition  only  lasts  until  he  can  make  a  cheaper  arrange- 
ment by  getting  that  worker  back  on  work  commensurate  with 
his  ability. 

Values  Lacking.— On  the  reverse  of  the  situation  just 
discussed,  it  is  equally  true  that  if  any  of  the  necessary  re- 
quirements are  lacking  the  cost  of  the  job  goes  up  and  we 
have  poor  management.  Since  this  is  self-evident  it  calls  for 
no  consideration  and  so  is  merely  mentioned  here  as  another 
situation  to  be  watched  out  for  in  assigning  workers  to  jobs. 

SECTION  VI.    THE  NUMBER  AND  KIND  OF  OPEEATING  POINTS  IN 

THE  DEPARTMENT 

Preliminary. — Since  it  is  evident  that,  all  other  things 
being  equal,  the  number  of  operating  points  in  a  department 
and  their  character  affects  cost,  so  far  as  any  responsibilities 
in  that  connection  come  into  a  foreman's  job,  he  has  corre- 
sponding managerial  responsibilities  and  problems.  Some 
of  the  more  probable  of  these  are  discussed  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs : 

Cost  Elements. — ^The  cost  elements  here  are : 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  lORCE 


178 


( 1 )  The  number  of  operating  points  or  j  obs. 

(2)  The  relative  number  of  human  and  machine  oper- 
ating points. 

(3)  The  grade  of  the  jobs  (index  value). 

In  general,  the  greater  the  number  of  human  operating 
points,  the  greater  the  cost,  and  the  higher  the  grade  of  the 
human  operating  points,  the  less  the  cost.  This  means  that 
it  is  cheaper  to  have  few  human  operating  points  whose  index 
value  is  high  than  many  human  operating  points  with  low 
index  values. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  problem  here  is  to  reduce 
to  the  minimum  the  number  of  operating  points,  either  ma- 
chine or  human  and  to  make  the  human  operating  points  as 
high  index  as  possible  under  the  working  conditions. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— The  first  part  of  the  prob- 
lem is  not  likely  to  fall  within  the  field  of  the  foreman's  job, 
as  it  is  a  matter  for  technical  experts  under  most  conditions, 
but  the  question  of  the  relative  number  of  machine  and  human 
operating  points  and  the  index  values  of  the  human  points 
may,  in  some  cases,  have  a  connection  with  the  managerial 
responsibilities  on  a  foreman's  job.  Where  such  is  the  case, 
the  following  may  be  suggestive : 

Human  vs.  Machine  Operating  Points. — ^In  general,  it 
may  be  said  that  human  operating  points  whose  index  figure 
is  low  represent  some  point  in  the  operation,  process  or  job, 
where,  up  to  this  time  human  inventive  power  has  not  been 
able  to  devise  a  way  of  doing  the  thing  mechanically  on  a  com- 
mercial basis,  or  has  not  as  yet  done  it  at  all,  but  that  the  cost 
of  such  operating  points  is,  in  general,  higher  than  if  they 
were  machine  operating  points.  In  other  words,  on  low  index 
operation  points  human  operation  costs  more  than  machine 
operation.  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  index  value  of  the 
operation  is  high,  it  is  on  such  points  that  human  knowledge, 
skill  and  intelligence  can  be  concentrated  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. This  amounts  to  saying  that  a  manufacturing  process 
that  could  be  carried  on  with  only  high  index  operating  points 


i 


174 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


175 


on  the  human  side,  all  the  rest  of  the  operating  points  being 
covered  bj  machines,  would,  in  general,  be  less  expensive  than 
if  a  large  number  of  low  index  jobs  were  carried  on  the  pay- 
roll. The  statement  "Never  ask  a  man  to  do  what  a  machine 
can  do"  embodies  a  general  principle  that  applies  in  general 
to  the  matter  under  discussion. 

THE   NUMBEB  OF  RESERVE  WORKERS  CARRIED  IN  THE  DE- 

PARTMENT 

Preliminary. — ^Among  the  managerial  devices  for  keeping 
up  the  working  force  already  considered  has  been  the  carry- 
ing of  reserve  workers.  This  section  takes  up  some  of  the 
cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  in  that  connection. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  possible  cost  elements  where 
reserves  are  carried  are : 

1.  Carrying  too  many. 

2.  Not  carrying  enough. 

3.  Carrying  the  wrong  kind. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  problem  here  is  to  carry 
the  necessary  minimum  of  the  right  kind. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— The  only  effective  method  of 
dealing  with  this  problem  is  to  make  a  careful  study  of  the 
way  in  which  reserves  are  likely  to  be  required  and  determine, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  on  the  basis  of  the  job  analyses,  the 
probable  extent  and  nature  of  the  demands,  both  as  to  the 
number  of  jobs  and  the  kind  of  jobs,  so  that  the  cost  of 
carrying  such  reserves  may  be  held  down  to  a  minimum,  yet 
the  work  will  not  be  held  up  for  lack  of  workers.  Since  this 
is  really  a  job  for  an  expert  and,  where  the  problem  is  one 
of  any  size,  does  not  fall  within  the  fields  of  a  foreman's  job, 
except  in  a  cooperative  way,  it  is  merely  mentioned  here  and 
is  not  discussed  in  detail. 


POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 
PART  IV 

1.  In  your  department  would  it  pay  to  carry  a  swing- 
in  gang? 

2.  Under  the  particular  organization  in  the  plant  where 
you  are  employed  do  you  consider  that  you  have  any  responsi- 
bility as  to  hiring  men?     If  so,  what  are  they? 

3.  Would  you  rank  the  jobs  in  your  department  as 
highly  skilled,  medium  skilled  or  low  skilled  j  obs  ?    Why  ? 

4.  Form  a  list  similar  to  that  of  job  qualifications  given 
on  page  167.  Check  off  the  qualifications  that  you  consider 
essential  to  one  of  the  jobs  in  your  department. 

5.  Would  you  consider  that  the  fact  that  a  man  wore 
^lasses  would  make  him  undesirable  for  any  of  the  fol- 
lowing jobs  in  your  department? 

a.  A  crane  operator. 

b.  A  laborer. 

c.  A  time  keeper. 

d.  Any  given  job  in  your  own  department. 

6.  For  what  jobs,  if  any,  in  your  department  would 
you  consider  an  extra  heavy  man  desirable?     Why? 

7.  Is  it  possible  to  double  up  in  your  department  with- 
out appreciable  loss  of  production?     Why? 

8.  In  employing  a  man  should  consideration  be  given  to 
just  the  job  that  he  is  to  be  placed  on  first,  or  should  con- 
sideration be  given  to  jobs  to  which  he  might  be  transferred? 

9.  In  what  ways  can  a  foreman  aid  an  employment 
department  in  connection  with  the  hiring  of  men? 

10.  In  your  opinion  are  there  objections  to  training  up 
understudies?    If  so,  what  are  they? 

11.  Under  what  conditions  would  it  pay  to  employ  a  man 
lor  a  job  for  which  he  had  "excess  values"? 

12.  Under  what  conditions  is  it  practically  impossible  to 
secure  men  having  satisfactory  M,  T  and  I  for  given  jobs? 
How  does  this  work  out  in  your  department?     Why? 


PABT     V 

THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  INFORMATION 
BLOCK  INTO  SPECIFIC  AND  DETAILED 

BESPONSIBILITIES 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SPECIFIC    AND     DETAILED     RESPONSIBILITIES 
FOR  THE  HANDLING  OF  INFORMATION 

SECTION    I.    PRELIMINARY 

Preliminary. — ^As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  a  very 
important  part  of  any  foreman's  supervisory  job  is  in  con- 
nection with  the  handling  of  information.  This  chapter  takes 
up  the  possible  specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  that  may 
come  into  the  supervisory  job  of  a  foreman,  Section  II  taking 
up  the  matter  of  recording  responsibilities  and  Section  III  in 
the  same  way  dealing  with  the  handling  of  information  as  be- 
tween the  different  members  of  the  team. 

Recording  Information.— While  the  matter  of  recording 
was  taken  up  in  a  general  way  in  a  previous  chapter, 
it  is  again  brought  up  here  for  convenient  reference.  It  is 
evident  that,  in  a  general  way,  whenever  there  is  a  given 
responsibility  to  be  discharged  in  seeing  that  something  is 
done,  or,  whenever,  as  the  result  of  the  discharge  of  that  re- 
sponsibility something  happens,  such  things  can  be  made 
matters  of  record,  that  is,  they  can  be  set  down  on  paper  for 
future  reference  by  a  foreman  himself  or  by  anybody  else  who 
may  need  that  information  later.  In  theory,  anything  that 
18  done  or  that  happens  can  be  made  a  matter  of  record,  but 
m  practice  only  such  matters  are  recorded  as  are  considered 
necessary  for  the  efficient  carrying  on  of  the  work  of  the  team, 
because,  as  pointed  out  in  the  next  chapter,  records  cost 
money  and  are  only  justified  where  they  save  more  than  they 
cost.    These  points  are  taken  up  in  Section  II. 

Reporting  Information.— It  is  often  necessary  that  in- 
formation should  be  furnished  to  somebody  else  who  is  not 
on  the  spot  but  who  has  to  use  it  in  doing  his  own  job.  Wliere 
this  is  done  we  have  a  report,  and  it  may  be  noted  here  that 

179 


I 


180 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


I 

I'Tailnf 


a  report  is  a  report,  whether  it  is  written  or  only  spoken. 
Whenever  reporting  is  spoken  of  the  understanding  always 
is  that  the  report  is  made  to  somebody  outside  of  the  depart- 
ment: an  immediate  superior,  the  General  Management  or 
some  one  else  besides  the  person  who  makes  that  report.  In 
the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  a  foreman  could  not  make  a 
report  to  himself.  Some  possible  responsibilities  in  this  con- 
nection are  taken  up  in  Section  III. 

"Giving  and  Receiving  Information."— Quite  distinct 
from  recording  and  reporting  is  the  matter  of  giving  and 
receiving  information  in  the  ordinary  run  of  the  work.  In 
the  carrying  on  of  any  team  job,  there  must  be  a  continual 
passing  out  of  information  as  well  as  a  receiving  of  informa- 
tion with  regard  to  the  work.  Since  this  sets  up  different 
responsibilities  in  some  ways,  it  is  taken  up  in  Section  IV. 

Methods  of  Giving  and  Receiving  Information. — ^As  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  there  are,  in  general,  three  methods 
of  giving  and  receiving  information,  orders,  directions  and 
suggestions,  and  these  are  worth  distinguishing  from  each 
other  because  they  set  up  different  managerial  problems  as 
is  pointed  out  in  the  following  chapter. 

SECTION  n.  AECORDING  INFORMATION 

Preliminary. — ^In  practically  all  plants  there  is  some  sys- 
tem of  recording,  and  the  carrying  on  of  this  system  almost 
always  brings  some  detailed  responsibilities  into  a  foreman's 
job.  This  section  points  out  a  number  of  possible  responsi- 
bilities that  may  come  under  the  general  responsibility  for 
recording  all  the  information  block. 

In  a  general  way,  it  is  evident  that  wherever  a  specific 
responsibility  comes  into  a  foreman's  job,  there  may  be  a  cor- 
responding responsibility  for  keeping  a  record.  For  example, 
a  foreman  may  have  to  keep  a  set  of  records  on  stock  in 
process,  material  on  hand,  or  finished  stock.  He  may  have 
certain  forms  to  fill  out  and  file  in  his  office.  He  may  have  to 
record  the  amount  of  product  or  of  waste.     He  may  have 


HANDLING  OF  INFORMATION 


181 


SOME   POSSIBLE   RESPONSIBILITIES   AS   TO   RECORDING 

INFORMATION 

Amount  on  hand 
Amount  in  process 
Amount  ready  for  delivery 
Amount  delivered  up  to  a 

certain  date 
Progress  of  production 
Inspection  records 
Records  as  to  condition 
Records  of  stock  orders 
Records  of  rework  tickets 
Records  of  job  tickets 
Records    of    stock    requisi- 
tions 
Special  records 


Stock 


Recording 

Information 


Operations 
Processes 


and 


Tools   and   Equip- 
ment 


The      Working 
Force 


* 
Records  on  operating  waste 

Records  on  operating  time 

Records  on  operating  power 

Records  on  results  of  rou- 
tine tests 

Records  on  results  of  special 
tests 

Conversion  records 

Records  of  yield 

Special  records 

Inventories  of  equipment  in 

service 
Requisitions      for     mainte- 
nance work 
for  new  tools 
for  tool  repairs 
for  replacements 
Inventories      of      complete 
equipment 
of    tools    and    acces- 
sories 
[    Special  records 

Number  at  work 
Number  taken  on 
Number  discharged 
Number  that  quit 
Number  of  transfers 
Number  of  absences 
Number  late 
Number  of  accidents 
Special  records 


the  responsibility  of  recording  the  date  of  receiving  material, 
or  when  finished  product  was  delivered  to  some  other  depart- 


I 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

ment,  or  as  to  the  condition  of  material  at  any  stage  as  deter- 
mined by  inspection  or  test. 

In  any  such  cases,  he  has  supervisory  responsibilities  that 
should  appear  on  his  lay-out  under  the  proper  detailed  classi- 
fication headings  and,  as  an  aid  to  doing  this,  a  number  of 
possibilities  are  suggested  on  the  chart.  It  should  be  noted 
that  those  possibilities  are  only  given  as  suggesting  the  kind 
of  recording  responsibilities  that  a  given  foreman  might  have. 
The  list  is  not  complete,  nor  is  it  expected  that  all  those  re- 
sponsibilities suggested  will  come  into  the  job  of  any 
one  foreman. 

Regular  and  Special  Records.— It  will  be  noted  on  the 
chart  that  it  is  suggested  that  any  records  that  a  foreman 
may  be  responsible  for  keeping,  or  for  seeing  that  they  are 
kept,  are  given  as  either  regular  or  special  records.  Regular 
records  require  no  explanation,  but  special  records  may 
sometimes  be  omitted  from  the  lay-out  because  a  foreman 
does  not  think  of  them  as  belonging  there  as  he  does  not  keep 
them  all  the  time.  If  at  any  time  he  is  liable  to  be  called 
upon  to  keep  special  records,  and  knows  what  they  are,  he 
should  include  them  in  the  lay-out.  If  he  does  not  know  what 
they  will  be,  he  can  include  the  note  ''special  records  as 
called  for."  Most  foremen  know  whether  it  is  the  custom  of 
the  plant  to  call  for  special  records  from  time  to  time  and 
so  can  deal  with  this  question  in  a  satisfactory  way. 

Records. — In  whatever  special  form  it  may  be  kept,  a 
record  is  merely  a  memorandum  intended  to  prevent  any 
chance  of  a  memory  slip.  Records  may  be  of  two  general 
kinds,  original  and  transferred. 

An  original  record  is  one  made  by  the  person  who  got  the 
information :  it  is  a  first  hand  memorandum.  A  transferred 
record  is  one  that  has  been  copied  from  the  original  record. 
For  example,  some  castings  come  into  a  department  and 
some  one  counts  them  and  notes  down  the  number;  counting 
and  recording  are  done  by  the  same  person.  This  would  be 
an  original  record.     If  this  original  record  were  then  given 


Bandling  of  information 


18S 


to  some  one  else  to  be  copied,  say  on  a  card  for  an  inventory 
card  catalogue,  the  record  on  the  card  would  be,  not  an  orig- 
inal, but  a  transcribed  record,  because  the  person  who  put  the 
figures  did  not  make  the  count.  It  is  very  common  to  trans- 
fer records  into  some  sort  of  consolidated  form,  as  when  the 
production  records  of  a  number  of  machines  are  added  up  to 
make  a  total  production  record  for  a  day. 

Records  on  Stock.— Among  the  more  probable  specific 
responsibilities  under  this  heading  are: 

(1)  Amount  on  hand. 

(2)  Amount  in  process. 

(3)  Amount  finished. 

(4)  Amount  ordered. 

(6)  Progression  records  or  reports. 

(6)  Inspection  records  or  reports. 

(7)  Records  or  reports  as  to  condition  of  stock. 
Numbers  1,  2,  3  and  4  are  perfectly  plain  and  call  for 

no  discussion,  as  the  special  form  or  manner  in  which  such 
records  are  kept  is  a  matter  of  special  procedure.  However, 
a  foreman  should  have  no  difficulty  in  determining  whether 
he  has,  or  has  not,  responsibilities  under  these  headings. 

The  question  df  progression  records  may  be  a  little  more 
difficult  to  "spot."  For  example,  in  a  department  where  a 
series  of  operations  were  carried  on,  it  might  be  necessary 
to  keep  track  of  the  stage  of  procedure  in  which  any  particu- 
lar batch  of  stock  was  at  any  given  time.  In  assembly  work, 
notably  in  shipbuilding,  such  progression  records  are  com- 
monly made  to  enable  the  percentage  of  completed  work  ' 
to  be  figured  at  any  time,  and  such  records  are  often  consoli- 
dated into  reports. 

Records  on  Equipment.— A  number  of  the  more  probable 
are  suggested  on  the  chart.  As  a  rule,  such  responsibilities 
are  easy  to  locate  if  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  records  of  sug- 
gestions or  recommendations  might  be  included  if  necessary. 

Records  on  Operations  and  Processes. — There  should  be 
no  difficulty  here  and  no  special  explanations  are  called  for. 


184 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


'  WHll 


Records  on  Tools  and  Equipment.— Evidently  the  list  of 
records  for  any  one  foreman's  job  will  vary  so  widely  with  the 
nature  of  the  product  that  very  special  lists  of  detailed  re- 
cording responsibilities  will  have  to  be  made  up  in  each  case. 
For  this  reason,  the  suggestions  made  on  the  chart  are  some- 
what general  in  their  character  and  are  intended  to  suggest 
some  possible  kinds  of  detailed  responsibilities  rather  than 
the  detailed  responsibilities  themselves.  Each  foreman  must 
work  out  his  own  special  lay-out. 

Records  on  the  Working  Force.— There  should  be  no  spe- 
cial difficulty  here  and  so  no  explanations  are  necessary. 

SECTION  in.  EEPORTING  INFORMATION 

Preliminary. — ^It  was  pointed  out  in  Section  I  that  the 
difference  between  recording  and  Reporting  is  that  in  report- 
ing the  information  goes  to  somebody  who  is  away  from  the 
department,  usually,  in  the  case  of  routine  reports,  to  an 
immediate  superior.  Since  the  fact  that  a  person  to  whom 
a  report  is  sent  must  rely  entirely  on  that  report,  and  this 
therefore,  affects  some  of  the  managerial  problems  to  some 
extent,  the  matter  of  reporting  as  against  recording  is  taken 
up  in  this  section. 

Possible  Responsibilities  for  Reporting. — Since  any  in- 
formation that  may  be  a  matter  of  record  may  also  be  made 
a  matter  for  reporting  the  possibilities  suggested  on  the  chart 
for  recording  will  serve  as  well  for  suggestions  as  to  reporting 
responsibilities,  and  the  same  general  considerations  will 
apply.  Certain  points  that  have  sometimes  caused  some  con- 
fusion in  working  out  a  lay-out  and  in  discussion  are  how- 
ever touched  upon  in  this  section. 

Reports. — ^As  distinguished  from  recording,  reporting,  as 
the  term  is  used  here,  means  transmitting,  or  "passing  along" 
information  to  somebody  else.  As  far  as  a  foreman  is  con- 
cerned, any  records  that  he  may  be  responsible  for  keeping 
stay  in  his  department ;  any  reports  the  he  may  have  to  make 
go  out  of  his  department.    It  is  evident  that  records  might 


HANDLING  OF  INFORMATION 


185 


be  kept  and  no  reports  called  for  (though  this  is  unlikely), 
but  that,  in  general,  any  report  must  be  based  on  some  sort 
of  a  record.  ^ 

Recommendations  and  Suggestions.— It  should  be  noted 
that  recommendations  or  suggestions  are  really  forms  of 
reports,  and  where  a  foreman  has  any  responsibility  in 
this  connection,  they  should  be  included  in  the  lay-out 
under  "Reporting." 

Verbal  and  Written  Reports.— Two  kinds  of  reports  are 
possible,  spoken,  or  verbal  reports,  and  written  reports,  and 
written  reports  may,  or  may  not,  be  in  some  prescribed  form. 
Since  in  making  the  responsibility  lay-out,  confusion  often 
arises  here,  these  possible  forms  are  considered  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

Verbal  Reports. — ^In  many  cases,  information  is  passed 
along  merely  by  telling,  that  is,  by  verbal  report,  and  in 
making  the  lay-out,  foremen  often  omit  responsibilities  for 
making  verbal  reports,  because  they  do  not  think  of  such 
cases  as  making  reports.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the 
form  of  the  report  makes  no  difference,  and  if  a  foreman  is 
responsible  for  giving  the  information  as  a  part  of  his  job, 
it  makes  no  difference,  so  far  as  the  responsibility  is  con- 
cerned, whether  he  writes  it,  or  gives  it  by  word  of  mouth. 

Where  verbal  reports  are  required,  or  are  the  custom 
under  the  procedure,  such  items  should  be  included  in  the  re- 
sponsibility lay-out. 

Regular  and  Special  Reports.- Under  most  conditions, 
the  job  of  a  foreman  includes  responsibilities  for  making 
certain  reports  that  are  a  regular  part  of  the  job,  and  a 
number  of  possibilities  are  indicated  on  the  chart.  Such 
regular  reporting  responsibilities  can  be  determined  and 
noted  on  the  lay-out.  In  many  cases,  in  addition  to  such 
regular  reports,  a  foreman  may  be  called  upon,  from  time  to 
time,  to  make  special  reports,  such  special  reports  lying  out- 
side of  the  regular  responsibilities  as  just  discussion.  Since 
such  special  reports  cannot  be  anticipated,  responsibilities 


186 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


in  this  connection  cannot  be  noted  in  detail  in  the  lay-out,  but 
if  it  is  customary  for  such  reports  to  be  called  for  from  time 
to  time,  the  specific  responsibility  can  be  noted.  As  an  ex- 
ample of  a  case  of  special  reports,  suppose  that  a  new  process 
was  being  tested  out  and  while  that  test  was  going  on,  reports, 
that  were  an  addition  to  those  regularly  made,  were  asked 
for,  as  in  the  case  of  a  boiler  test  in  a  steam  plant,  or  that 
the  rate  of  production  of  a  new  machine  was  to  be  determined, 
and  so  special  reports  were  kept  of  the  hourly  production. 

Written  Reports. — In  making  the  responsibility  lay-out, 
foremen  are  liable  to  omit  some  responsibilities  for  written 
reports,  because  they  do  not  think  of  some  things  that  they 
do,  as  reports.  It  must  be  remembered  that  making  a  written 
report  is  merely  passing  some  kind  of  information  over  to 
somebody  else  in  writing.  If  the  information  is  partly 
printed  in  advance,  as  in  the  case  of  forms,  and  only  a  part 
of  the  information  has  to  be  written  in,  it  is  a  report  just 
the  same,  and  this  is  true,  whatever  may  be  the  special  name 
given  to  any  particular  form  of  report.  Thus,  for  example, 
when  a  foreman  makes  out  a  requisition  for  small  tools,  what 
he  really  does  is  to  inform  the  purchasing  department,  or  the 
general  stores,  or  whoever  receives  the  requisition,  that  these 
small  tools  are  required. 

The  same  would  hold  true  for  a  requisition  for  repair 
work  on  equipment,  or  for  additions  to  the  working  force.  In 
making  the  responsibility  lay-out,  any  form  of  written  com- 
munication, work  orders,  requisitions,  etc.,  therefore  should 
be  classified  as  reports  and  so  included  in  the  responsi- 
bility lay-out. 

Procedure  and  Responsibility. — ^In  "tying  up  the  pro- 
cedure and  responsibilities"  in  the  case  of  responsibilities  for 
recording  and  reporting,  the  following  cases,  among  others, 
are  likely  to  come  up : 

1.  Checking  records  made  by  others. 

2.  Transmitting  records  to  others. 

3.  Filing  records. 


HANDLING  OF  INFORMATION 


187 


and  a  foreman  may  discharge  these  and  similar  recording  and 
reporting  responsibilities  by  prescribed  or  devised  procedure. 

Prescribed  and  Devised  Procedure.— In  most  large  con- 
cerns, records  and  reports  are  made  on  special  forms  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose,  that  is,  the  procedure  is  prescribed. 
In  many  cases,  however,  the  foreman  has  to  get  up  his  own 
particular  form  for  records  and  reports,  and  in  such  cases 
he  devises  some  way  of  doing  it.  This  distinction  is  import- 
ant, mainly,  as  affecting  the  management  side  of  the  work, 
and  is  mentioned  here  with  the  suggestion  that,  where  a 
foreman  has  to  devise  his  own  procedure,  he  will  note  that  fact 
on  his  lay-out. 

Making  the  Responsibility  Lay-out.— In  making  that 
part  of  his  responsibility  lay-out  that  deals  with  reporting,  a 
foreman  should  include  any  responsibilities,  whether  they  are 

(a)  For  verbal  or  written  reports; 

(b)  For  direct  reports,  suggestions,  or  recommendations ; 

(c)  For  checking,  receiving,  or  transmitting  reports; 
and  should  indicate  the  special  form  of  the  responsibility  on 
his  lay-out. 

SECTION  IV.  ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

Orders.— All  foremen  have  responsibilities  for  giving 
orders,  and  this  point  needs  no  explanation.  An  order,  of 
course,  is  the  standard  method  for  giving  information  to  a 
member  of  the  working  force  as  to  jobs.  While  there  is  quite 
a  little  managerial  responsibility  in  the  giving  of  orders  as 
taken  up  in  the  next  chapter,  the  supervisory  responsibility 
is  merely  to  give  orders  when  necessary.  It  is,  of  course,  evi- 
dent that  in  making  a  supervisory  lay-out  no  foreman  would 
undertake  to  list  out  all  the  possible  orders  that  he  might 
have  to  give,  and  for  any  use  that  would  be  made  of  the 
lay-out  in  connection  with  managerial  problems  this  would 
serve  no  useful  purpose,  even  if  it  were  possible,  because  it  is 
not  the  special  thing  for  which  the  order  is  given  that  counts. 


u 


■i 
1 


^ 


m 


188 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


but  the  way  in  which  it  is  given.    Of  course,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  orders  can  be  listed  under : 

1.  Orders  relating  to  stock. 

2.  Orders  relating  to  operations  and  processes. 

3.  Orders  relating  to  tools  and  equipment. 

4.  Greneral  orders,  but  this  procedure  is  not  advised.  A 
foreman  should  simply  put  down  "giving  orders"  on  his  lay- 
out and  let  it  go  at  that. 

Directions. — ^While  a  foreman  is  sure  to  have  a  responsi- 
bility for  giving  orders  he  may  hold  that  he  has  none  for 
giving  directions :  that  he  carries  on  all  his  work  by  ordering. 
As  is  pointed  out  in  the  next  chapter,  however,  if  he  really 
does  this  he  is  a  poor  manager,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  prac- 
tically all  foremen  do  include  a  directing  responsibility  in 
their  jobs,  although  sometimes  they  do  not  think  so. 

The  difference  between  an  order  and  a  direction  is  difficult 
to  define,  and  the  distinction  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
but  is  briefly  repeated  here  for  convenience.  A  direction, 
while  it  is  assumed  that  it  carries  the  force  of  an  order,  also 
assumes  a  little  more  elasticity  in  the  way  that  it  is  to  be 
carried  out.  It  assumes  that  the  person  receiving  the  direc- 
tion knows,  in  detail,  what  to  do  and  will  do  it.  A  direction 
also  does  not  carry  the  "  slap  "  that  an  order  does,  hence 
most  foremen,  when  they  think  that  they  are  always  giving 
orders,  in  many  cases  give  directions  instead,  without  think- 
ing anything  about  it,  and  so,  at  first,  will  say  that  they 
have  no  responsibilities  for  directing  as  distinguished 
from  ordering. 

As  in  the  case  of  orders  no  attempt  should  be  made  to 
list  out  responsibilities  for  directing  in  detail,  and,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  under  one  set  of  conditions  a  foreman  would  use 
orders  and  imder  another  set  of  conditions  he  might  use 
directions  on  the  same  job. 

If,  after  discussion,  a  foreman  feels  that  he  has  directing 
as  well  as  ordering  responsibilities,  he  can  state  that  fact 


HANDLING  OP  INFORMATION^ 


189 


on  his  lay-out,  but  he  should  make  no  attempt  to  work  out 
the  details. 

Suggestions.— The  question  as  to  responsibility  for 
making  suggestions  is  often  a  cause  of  much  discussion,  and 
it  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  many  foremen  feel  that 
they  have  no  responsibilities  in  that  line.  This  is  not  in 
general  the  case;  a  foreman  has  such  responsibilities  under 
at  least  the  following  conditions : 

1.  Where  it  is  understood  to  be  the  policy  of  the  Man- 
agement to  desire  to  receive  suggestions,  even  if  no  direct 
orders  have  been  given  to  that  effect. 

2.  Where  the  same  is  true  of  the  immediate  superior. 

3.  Where  the  making  of  suggestions  has  been  actually 
asked  for. 

As  these  points  are  taken  up  in  the  chapter  on  coopera- 
tion, they  are  not  developed  further  here. 

Another  case  where  a  foreman  may  feel  that  he  has  re- 
sponsibilities for  suggesting  is  in  using  suggestions  in  place 
of  orders  or  directions  in  giving  information  to  the  working 
force  under  some  conditions.  Since  this  is  also  taken  up  in 
the  chapter  on  Morale  (Chapter  XXVII),  the  matter  is  not 
followed  up  any  further  here. 


mm 


CHAPTER  XIV 

COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 
ON  THE  HANDLING  OF  INFORMATION 

SECTION  I. 

Preliminary.— As  discussed  in  Chapter  XIII,  under  prac- 
tically all  conditions  a  foreman  has  some  responsibilities  in 
connection  with  securing,  transmitting  and  recording  some 
sort  of  information  in  the  form  of  records,  reports  and  so  on, 
and,  in  all  cases,  he  has,  as  a  part  of  his  job,  the  giving  of 
orders  and  directions,  and  usually,  in  addition,  his  job  in- 
cludes some  responsibility  for  making  suggestions  to  his 
superior  or  to  workers  or  to  both. 

The  proper  carrying  on  of  his  duty  in  connection  with 
these  matters,  to  the  extent  that  they  come  into  his  job, 
according  to  the  procedure,  sets  up  a  number  of  important 
managerial  problems  whose  effective  solution  depends  upon 
a  determination  of  the  cost  elements  that  come  into  play 
and  the  working  out  of  effective  ways  and  means  for 
handling  them. 

This  chapter  takes  up  a  number  of  possible  cost  elements 
and  managerial  problems  that  come  under  these  responsibil- 
ities which  will  appear  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  on  the  re- 
sponsibility lay-out  of  any  given  foreman. 

As  in  all  other  cases,  the  discussion  is  not  complete,  and 
each  foreman  must  work  out  his  own  particular  problem  to 
meet  his  own  special  conditions,  but  the  points  considered  will 
prove  suggestive  and,  it  is  hoped,  helpful  in  the  matter. 

What  is  Meant  by  "Passing  Along  Information."— In 
the  sense  in  which  the  term  "information"  is  used  here  it  means 
any  method  or  form  of  procedure  whose  purpose  is  to  "pass 
along"  information  from  somebody  who  has  it  to  somebody 
who  needs  it  in  his  business.  It  includes  written  information, 
such  as  reports,  work  orders,  rework  tickets,  requisitions, 

190 


COST  OF  INFORMATION  191 

time  cards,  job  tickets,  posted  notices,  and  aU  other  special 
forms  by  which  written  information  is  passed  along  from  one 
member  of  the  team  to  another.  It  also  includes  spoken  in- 
formation, such  as  orders,  directions,  spoken  reports  and 
suggestions  and,  in  general,  any  methods  whereby  informa- 
tion IS  passed  along  "by  word  of  mouth." 

What  is  Meant  by  Recording.-As  this  term  is  used  here. 
It  means  any  method  used  by  any  one  who  has  obtained  any 
sort  of  information  for  putting  that  information  down  in 
some  form  so  that  if  he  needs  it  later  he  wiU  not  have  to 
depend  on  his  memory  and  also  so  that  anybody  else  can  get  it 
if  he  needs  it. 

The  Two  Steps.— From  the  above  statements  it  is  evident 
that  this  chapter  discusses  two  distinct  jobs: 

1.  Setting  down  or  recording  information. 

2.  Passing  out  or  transmitting  information  in  the  form 
of  reports,  orders,  directions,  suggestions,  etc. 

Responsibilities  as  to  recording  may  or  may  not  come 
into  the  job  of  any  given  foreman,  according  to  the  procedure 
and  the  job  analysis,  but,  in  aU  cases,  there  are  responsibil- 
ities as  to  transmitting  information  that  must  be  included 
m  the  job  of  any  foreman  and  which  set  up  corresponding 
managerial  responsibilities  and  problems  based  on  the  cost 
elements  concerned. 

This  chapter,  therefore,  considers  (1)  Recording,  (2) 
Reporting  and  (3)  Directions,  Orders  and  Suggestions. 

SECTION   II.    COST   ELEMENTS   AND    MANAGERIAL   PEOBLEMS    ON 

EECOEDING  INFORMATION 

Preliminary.— As  already  stated,  any  responsibilities 
that  cover  the  setting  down  of  information  either  for  the  use 
of  the  person  who  makes  the  record  (personal  records),  or 
for  the  use  of  anybody  who  may  need  to  use  it  (general 
records),  would  come  under  this  heading.  Although 
records  vary  greatly  in  the  kind  of  information  recorded, 
since  the  cost  elements  and  the  managerial  problems  are  the 


iflpi 


^ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

same  in  all  cases,  this  section  discusses  recording  without 
reference  to  the  special  nature  of  the  information  that  is 
set  down. 

The  Two  Steps  in  Recording.— In  discharging  any  re- 
cording responsibility  there  are  two  distinct  steps: 

1,  Securing  the  information  to  be  recorded: 

2.  Recording  the  information  after  it  has  been  secured. 

Each  of  these  "jobs"  sets  up  its  own  special  cost  ele- 
ments and  managerial  problems  as  noted  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs: 

The  Two  Cases."^In  the  matter  of  recording  we  may 
have  two  cases: 

1.  Where  the  person  who  gets  the  information  puts 
it  down. 

2.  Where  one  person  gets  the  information  and  somebody 
else  puts  it  down  in  the  final  form. 

The  first  case  would  be  illustrated  where  a  foreman  makes 
certain  observations  and  notes  them  down  on  a  scrap  of 
paper  or  in  a  notebook  as  the  final  record.  The  second  case 
would  be  where  he  had  a  clerk  whose  business  was  to  enter 
information,  say  the  daily  production  in  the  department,  on 
some  form  of  permanent  records  (cards,  forms,  etc.), 
whether  the  information  comes  in  "by  word  of  mouth"  or  in 
the  form  of  paper  records  that  have  to  be  copied. 

In  either  case  it  is  up  to  the  foreman  to  see  that  this  work 
is  so  carried  out  that  cost  elements  are  reduced  to  a  minimum 
whether  he  does  the  recording  himself  or  it  is  done  by  some 
one  who  is  under  his  authority. 

Cost  Elements — Securing  Information. — This  is  really 
a  matter  of  reporting,  since  the  information  or  the  facts  are 
really  secured  either  through  a  report  made  to  a  foreman  by 
somebody  else  in  the  department  or,  if  a  foreman  gets  the 
facts  by  direct  observation  himself,  he  really  "reports"  to 
himself.  These  points  are  taken  up  under  reporting  in  the 
section  that  follows  this  one. 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


193 


Cost  Elements  on  Recording  Information  Already  Se- 
cured.— ^Among  the  more  important  cost  elements  on  re- 
cording are: 

1.  The  accuracy  with  which  the  recording  is  carried 
out,  that  is,  the  degree  to  which  the  records,  as  made, 
are  accurate. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  the  records  are  complete,  that 
is,  the  record  contains  all  the  information  or  facts  that  it 
is  supposed  to  contain. 

3.  The  legibility  or  illegibility  of  the  records  as  made, 
that  is,  the  degree  to  which  they  are  so  plain  that  there  can 
be  no  possible  mistake  made  in  using  them. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  the  records  are  kept  in  stand- 
ard forms  and  the  same  procedure  is  followed  in  making 
them  out. 

5.  The  degree  to  which  all  records  are  kept  up  to  date. 

7.  The  degree  to  which  the  information  can  be  easily  se- 
cured by  anyone  having  occasion  to  use  it. 

A.  THE  ACCUEACY  OF  ALL  DEPABTMENTAL  RECORDS 

What  is  Meant  by  the  Accuracy  of  Records. — ^As  the 
term  accuracy  is  used  here,  it  means  that  all  information,  as 
recorded,  is  correct;  that,  so  far  as  it  tells  any  story,  the 
story  is  true. 

The  Cost  of  Incorrect  Records. — ^An  mcorrect  record, 
like  any  other  lie,  is  a  dangerous  proposition  and  is,  of  course, 
worse  than  no  record  at  all.  If  there  is  no  record  at  all,  at 
the  worst,  nothing  is  known  about  the  matter  (so  far  as  any 
record  is  concerned),  which  is  bad  enough,  but  if  the  record 
is  there,  and  is  false,  whoever  depends  upon  that  record  and 
properly  thinks  that  it  is  correct,  thinks  that  he  knows  cor- 
rectly when  he  is  really  incorrect  and  has  no  means  of  know- 
ing it.  Hence  no  one  can  estimate  the  cost  increasing  dangers 
that  go  with  incorrect  records,  especially  if  they  are  liable 
to  be  used  by  people  who  are  not  in  direct  contact  with  the 
work  and  who,  in  making  them  a  basis  for  action,  must  take 
them  at  their  face  value,  because  they  have  no  means  of  back- 

18 


1    .III. 


194 


THE'FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  OP  INFORMATION 


'Nl 


checking  and  so  possibly  detecting  any  error  until  the  mis- 
chief is  done. 

For  example,  in  a  stock  inventory,  if  it  is  not  accurate,  it 
may  easily  happen  that,  if  the  record  shows  more  of  a  certain 
kind  of  material  than  is  actuaUy  in  stock,  say,  for  a  machine 
shop,  tool  steel,  the  whole  production  may  be  held  up  later  for 
want  of  that  special  material  which  was  supposed  to  be  in 
stock  and  which  is  found  not  to  be  there  only  when  it  is  needed 
and  the  discovery  is  made  that  the  stock  room  is  all  out. 

Again,  in  the  case  of  time  records,  or  records  on  piece- 
work, errors  in  the  record  will  lead  to  all  sorts  of  possible 
cost  increasing  situations,  especially  where  they  affect  the 
pay  of  men. 

Holding  up  some  part  of  the  pay  while  the  matter  is 
chased  up  and  corrected  may  lead  to  aU  sorts  of  disputes  and 
dissatisfaction.  The  time  spent  in  running  down  the  case 
and  making  the  corrections  itself  costs  money,  the  general 
doubt  cast  on  the  reliability  of  the  records  by  a  case  of  this 
sort  at  least  does  no  good  and  in  a  number  of  other  ways 
that  will  readily  suggest  themselves  to  any  foreman,  cost 
will  be  increased. 

One  difficulty  in  this  matter  of  inaccuracy  of  records  is 
that  the  results  of  inaccurate  records  come  out  in  so  many 
ways  that  cannot  be  anticipated  and  whose  cost  increasing 
effects  may  be  so  far  reaching  that  it  is  extremely  important 
that  all  inaccuracy  should  be  prevented  or,  at  least,  reduced 
to  a  minimum  by  the  most  careful  management  and  the 
adoption  of  the  best  possible  means  of  dealing  with  it,  so  that, 
so  far  as  a  foreman  has  acting,  recommending  or  suggesting 
responsibilities  he  wiU  do  well  to  give  the  matter  careful 
study  and  attention. 

Cost  Elements— Inaccurate  Records— Some  of  the  pos- 
sible cost  elements  on  inaccurate  records  are  as  follows  and 
others  will  readily  suggest  themselves,  some  of  them  having 
been,  of  course,  suggested  in  the  preceding  discussion. 

1.  The  cost  of  chasing  up  and  correcting  errors. 


195 


2.  Damage  or  loss  due  to  depending  on  inaccurate 
records. 

3.  The  holding  up  of  production  due  to  the  same  cause. 

4.  Dissatisfaction  and  disputes  due  to  inaccurate 
records. 

5.  The  time  spent  in  doing  the  job. 

6.  The  labor  cost  in  doing  the  job. 

And,  as  suggested  above,  a  number  of  others. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  reduce  inaccuracy  to  a  minimum,  since,  as  long  as  human 
operation  points  must  be  included  in  the  jobs  of  keeping  rec- 
ords, absolute  absence  of  slips  cannot  be  hoped  for. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Among  the  managerial  de- 
vices that  are  of  service  are : 

1.  The  use  of  simple  methods. 

2.  Making  accuracy  easy. 

3.  Knowing  the  job  requirements  and  getting  the  right 
individual  on  the  job. 

4.  Making  the  original  record  the  permanent  one. 

5.  Carrying  duplicate  records. 

6.  So  far  as  possible,  cutting  out  the  human  factor. 

7.  Not  trusting  to  memory  in  securing  the  information 
that  is  to  be  recorded. 

Using  Simple  Methods.— Of  course,  the  following  discus- 
sion only  applies  to  cases  where  a  foreman  may  keep  records 
in  any  way  that  he  chooses.  Where  the  records  are  according 
to  standard  procedure,  he  has  no  managerial  responsibilities 
as  to  form,  except  possibly  a  suggestive  or  recommending 
responsibility  where  he  is  expected  to  suggest  or  recommend 
as  to  changes  in  procedure. 

The  simpler  the  method,  the  less  chance  there  is  of  un- 
necessary increased  cost,  provided  the  necessary  information 
is  recorded  in  usable  form,  and  the  less  bother  and  complica- 
tion there  is  in  connection  with  the  job  of  recording,  the  less 
chance  there  is  for  error. 

Sometimes  a  man  who  is  responsible  for  records  will  evolve 


IM 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


such  a  complicated  system  that,  whOe  it  looks  well,  it  swamps 
him,  for  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  not  so  much 
starting  a  set  of  records  as  it  is  the  keeping  of  it  up  that 
makes  the  trouble. 

Such  records  as  a  foreman  may  have  to  keep,  or  has  kept 
in  his  department,  therefore,  will  best  serve  their  purpose 
if  the  methods  used  are  as  simple  as  possible,  easily  under- 
stood, and  easily  carried  out. 

Making  Accuracy  Easy.— A  second  consideration  that 
affects  accuracy  in  recording  is  the  degree  to  which  accuracy 
is  made  easy  both  for  the  recorder  and  for  the  i>ersons  using 
•  the  records.  For  example,  the  use  of  a  standard  form,  so 
that  the  same  kind  of  information  will  always  appear  in  the 
same  place,  is  of  great  advantage  in  this  connection.  Again, 
it  is  much  more  difficult  to  either  record,  or  use  records  ac- 
curately, if  the  data  is  crowded  together,  or  limited  space 
requires  very  fine  writing.  In  considering  this  matter,  it  is  an 
interesting  question  whether  the  use  of  the  typewriter  does, 
or  does  not,  make  accuracy  easier.  Certainly,  it  makes 
records  easier  to  read,  but,  for  example,  in  recording  num- 
bers, the  chances  that  the  operator  hit  a  wrong  key  and  not 
know  it,  may  affect  the  first  consideration. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  good  working  conditions 
help :  if  the  light  is  poor,  for  example,  accurate  work  is  more 
difficult,  and  a  number  of  other  points  of  this  sort  would  un- 
doubtedly come  up  in  discussion,  according  to  the  special 
nature  of  the  records  and  the  working  conditions. 

The  Job  and  the  Individual.— This  is  merely  a  special 
case  of  "Matching  Man  Qualifications  to  Job  Requirements," 
and  so  needs  no  discussion  here  beyond  pointing  out  that 
where  a  foreman  has  the  responsibility  of  putting  some  one 
on  the  recording  job,  he  should  use  the  same  care  as  in  the 
case  of  a  production  job,  and  this  is  particularly  true,  if, 
as  is  sometimes  the  case,  he  gets  some  member  of  the  working 
force  (generally  a  girl)  to  do  the  work,  as  an  "extra." 

Making  the  Original  Record  the  Permanent  One. — ^The 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


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habit  of  making  records  that  have  to  be  copied  is  one  that  is 
liabte  to  affect  accuracy.  For  example,  some  foremen,  as 
they  go  about  the  department,  will  note  information  for  rec- 
ord on  scraps  of  paper  and  when  they  get  back  to  their 
desks,  turn  these  scraps  of  paper  over  to  a  clerk  to  record, 
according  to  the  regular  form.  Of  course,  this  practice  in- 
troduces a  number  of  additional  chances  of  error.  For  ex- 
ample, suppose  that  records  are  kept  on  cards  carrying  a 
printed  form :  if  a  foreman  carries  these  cards  with  him  and 
enters  the  information  on  them,  so  that  the  original  record 
is  the  final  one,  he  is  reducing  chances  of  inaccuracy,  and  to 
that  extent  cutting  cost* 

Duplicate  Records.- A  loss  of  records  is  a  serious  matter 
and  is  liable  to  cause  all  sorts  of  trouble  if  it  happens.    One 
way  of  guarding  against  this  is  to  keep  all  important  records 
in  duplicate,  and  sometimes  keep  the  two  sets  in  different 
places.    For  example,  this  practice  is  common  in  the  case  of 
Title  Insurance  Companies,  complete  duplicate  records  being 
kept  sometimes  at  a  place  outside  of  the  city  where  the  com- 
pany is  located.    Of  course,  such  extreme  precautions  would 
be  taken  only  in  cases  where  the  loss  would  be  practically  ir- 
reparable, and  probably  would  not  be  necessary  in  the  case  of 
departmental  records.    Under  ordinary  conditions,  however, 
cards  may  be  lost,  sheets  mislaid,  etc.,  and  the  question  of  the 
value  of  duplicate  records  may  be  worth  considering  where 
records  of  any  importance  are  kept  permanently  in  the  fore- 
man's office,  or  on  his  desk. 

Cutting  Out  the  Human  Factor.- It  is  generally  recog- 
nized that  human  beings  are  more  likely  to  make  mistakes 
than  machines. 

Perhaps  in  the  matter  of  recording,  this  point  is  of  no 
great  importance,  but  may  apply  in  certain  cases.  For  ex- 
ample, where  adding  is  required,  an  adding  machine  is  more 
likely  to  be  accurate  than  when  the  work  is  done  by  a  clerk 
"in  his  head";  and  in  the  same  way,  in  special  cases,  there 
might  be  other  ways  in  which  chances  for  errors  might  be 


198 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


reduced  by  using  mechanical  aids.  It  is  enough  here, 
however,  to  merely  draw  attention  to  the  principle,  since 
this  discussion  is  carried  somewhat  further  in  connection 
with  reports. 

Not  Trusting  to  Memory.— One  of  the  most  common 
causes  of  inaccurate  records  is  the  habit  of  determining  a 
fact  for  record  and  then  "carrying  it  in  the  head,"  for  a  while 
before  recording  it ;  that  is,  depending  upon  memory.  This  is 
particularly  likely  to  happen  where  the  place  where  the  rec- 
ords are  kept  is  away  from  the  "operating  point"  where  the 
data  are  secured.  The  "putting  it  down  when  I  get  back 
to  the  desk"  habit  is  a  cost  increasing  one  either  for  foremen 
or  for  workers  who  have  recording  responsibilities.  The  good 
managerial  rule  is  "put  it  down  as  soon  as  you  get  it,"  and  if 
this  is  enforced,  costs  will  be  reduced  in  the  long  run. 

B.   THE   COMPLETENESS  OF   DEPAKTMENTAL  RECORDS 

The  Cost  of  Incomplete  Records. — ^The  general  cost- 
affecting  elements  on  incomplete  records  are  the  same  as  for 
inaccurate  records,  except  that  they  are  perhaps,  of  some- 
what less  value  because  an  incomplete  record  is  more  likely 
to  be  spotted  before  damage  is  done  than  is  one  that 
is  inaccurate. 

In  the  same  way  the  managerial  problems  are  practically 
the  same  and  the  ways  and  means  for  dealing  with  them  essen- 
tially similar,  so  that  no  special  consideration  is  required 
under  this  heading. 

C.  THE  LEGIBrLITY  OF  DEPARTMENTAL  RECORDS 

The  Cost  of  Illegibility. — If  records  are  to  be  of  value, 
they  must  be  read,  and  if  they  are  not  legible,  they  are  liable 
to  be  read  incorrectly  and  so  for  all  practical  purposes  they 
become  inaccurate  records. 

Among  the  causes  of  illegibility  are  "smooching"  and 
dirt,  due  to  handling,  "scribbling,"  due  to  haste,  and  some- 
times poor  handwriting. 

"Smooching"  is  due,  usually,  to  the  use  of  improper  pen- 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


199 


cils ;  dirt  is  due  to  handling,  cannot  be  always  prevented,  but 
care  can  be  used  to  keep  records  clean,  or  to  have  copies  made 
when  the  originals  become  too  soiled.  Sometimes,  certain  de- 
vices on  the  market,  such  as  celluloid  covers,  are  of  service, 
and  sometimes  a  coat  of  white  shellac  will  give  a  surface  that 
can  be  wiped  off  when  necessary. 

Of  course,  all  such  suggestions  are  of  value  only,  and 
are,  or  are  not,  serviceable,  according  to  the  special  condi- 
tions, the  particular  kind  of  records  and  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  used. 

With  regard  to  poor  handwriting,  it  may  be  said  that  a 
man's  own  records  which  he  himself  cannot  read  when  they 
are  "  cold  "  are  bad  enough,  but  when  someone  else  has  to 
puzzle  them  out,  the  situation  is  worse,  and  the  chance  of 
error  is  greatly  increased. 

D.    THE    FORM   IN   WHICH   DEPARTMENTAL   RECORDS   ARE    KEPT 

AS  A  COST  ELEMENT 

Preliminary.— Under  most  working  conditions,  records 
that  are  of  importance  or  that  are  regular  in  their  character, 
are  kept  in  some  special  form,  usually  printed  on  the  card,  or 
sheet  or  whatever  the  special  recording  device  may  be.  In  the 
hurry  of  "getting  the  job  done"  there  is  often  a  tendency  to 
disregard  such  prescribed  forms  and  record  the  information 
"any  old  way  so  as  to  get  it  down."  Supplies  of  forms  are 
allowed  to  run  out,  or  get  lost,  or  the  recorder  "doesn't  see 
what  difference  it  makes  so  long  as  it  is  put  down."  The 
question  as  to  the  cost  value  of  following  procedure  is,  there- 
fore, worth  considering. 

The  Cost  of  Records  not  Kept  on  the  Prescribed 
Forms.— Failure  to  use  the  prescribed  forms  in  record 
keeping  brings  into  play  a  number  of  cost  elements  among 
which  are: 

1.  Increasing  the  chance  of  error  in  using  records. 

2.  Requiring  more  time  and  energy  than  is  necessary 
from  anyone  who  has  to  use  the  records. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  cost  increasing  value  of  the  first 


^^ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

case,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  if  a  number  of  records  are 
to  be  looked  over  by  some  one,  or  have  to  be  compared,  or 
consolidated  into  a  report,  when  the  same  kind  of  information 
always  appears  in  the  same  place  on  all  record  sheets  or 
cards,  the  chance  of  error  is  greatly  reduced.  In  the  second 
case,  if  the  same  sort  of  information  has  to  be  picked  out  on 
different  parts  of  the  record  sheet,  this  not  only  "slows  up" 
the  work  but  makes  it  very  much  more  difficult  and  trying 
on  the  nerves. 

Even  where  a  foreman  keeps  records  solely  for  his  own 
use,  if  he  keeps  them  in  some  uniform  way,  he  will  save  cost 
for  his  own  time  and  tlie  decreased  chance  of  error  when  he 
uses  these  records,  whereas,  if  he  keeps  them  on  old  scraps  of 
paper,  or  in  an  old  blank  book,  or  chalked  up  on  a  board,  or  in 
some  other  "irregular"  way,  his  cost  will  go  up. 

All  of  the  points  just  noted  and  a  number  of  others  that 
will  readily  occur  to  any  foreman  justify  the  statement  that, 
whether  he  does  the  actual  recording  himself  or  has  it  done 
by  a  clerk,  it  pays  to  keep  all  records  in  a  uniform  manner 
on  proper  forms  and  to  see  that  these  forms  are  properly 
filled  out  and  are  always  used.  By  doing  this  not  only  is 
departmental  cost  reduced  but,  outside  of  direct  depart- 
mental responsibilities,  a  foreman  is  giving  better  cooperation 
to  the  General  Management,  to  his  immediate  superiors  and 
to  anyone  who  has  to  use  the  records. 

E.  KEEPING  BECORDS  UP  TO  DATE 

Preliminary. — Quite  distinct  from  the  question  of  keep- 
ing records  in  proper  form  is  the  matter  of  keeping  them  up 
to  date.  Very  often  the  temptation  to  "let  them  run"  and 
then  ''make  them  up  in  a  bunch"  is  one  that,  if  it  not  fought, 
is  liable  to  cost  money,  and  since  it  is  so  common  it  is  worth 
some  consideration,  especially  where  the  permanent  record  is 
not  the  original  one. 

The  Cost  of  Letting  Records  Run  Behind. — There  are  a 
number  of  cost  elements  that  may  come  into  play  here.  In 
the  first  place,  records  made  in  this  way  are  much  more  liable 


ti^tfi 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


COl 


to  be  incorrect  or  incomplete  because  of  the  time  that  elapses 
between  the  making  of  the  original  record  and  the  transfer, 
with  all  the  chances  of  loss,  failure  to  spot  errors  when  they 
are  first  made  and  so  on.  Temporary  memoranda  get  lost, 
other  matters  force  that  particular  incident  out  of  the  mind 
of  the  original  recorder,  guessing  is  substituted  for  certainty, 
all  of  which  increases  the  chances  of  error  and  so  of  in- 
creased cost. 

Where  records  of  this  kind  are  kept,  it  is  up  to  any  fore- 
man to  see  to  it  that  they  are  always  kept  up  to  date,  and 
that,  where  the  original  record  has  to  be  transcribed,  the  time 
between  making  the  original  record  and  the  transcription  is 
always  as  small  as  possible.  By  doing  this  he  will  be  taking 
the  least  chance  of  increasing  costs  so  far  as  these  particular 
points  are  concerned. 

SECTION  m.   COST  ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGERIAL   PROBLEMS   ON 

REPORTING  INFORMATION 

Preliminary. — ^As  already  stated,  a  report  differs  from  a 
record  because  the  information  contained  is  for  the  use  of 
those  to  whom  the  report  is-  made  and  not  for  the  use  of  the 
person  who  makes  it.  As  pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on 
possible  responsibilities,  reports  may  be  made  to  various 
people,  such  as  immediate  superiors,  the  Greneral  Manage- 
ment, other  foremen,  etc.,  and  they  may  be  routine  or  special 
in  their  nature,  but  so  far  as  the  points  considered  in  this 
section  go,  the  special  nature  of  the  report  and  the  particu- 
lar person  to  whom  it  goes  does  not  affect  the  cost  elements 
or  the  managerial  problems,  though,  of  course,  in  minor  ways, 
each  foreman  must  make  his  own  application  to  the  special 
conditions  that  go  with  his  special  procedure  and  the  par- 
ticular requirements  of  his  own  job. 

Making  -and  Receiving  Reports.— Just  as  in  the  case  of 
recording  we  have  two  cases  : 

A.  Making  reports,  where  a  foreman,  as  a  part  of  his 
duty,  is  required  to  forward  reports  to  his  superiors  or  to 
other  departments,  or  to  other  members  of  the  team. 


202 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


203 


j|iU| 


B.  Securing  or  receiving  reports  from  others 
The  "job"  in  the  first  case  is  to  furnish  the  information, 
and  in  the  second  case,  to  get  it.     Since  these  two  jobs  bring 
in   different   cost   elements    and   corresponding   managerial 
problems,  they  are  discussed  separately. 

A.   MAKING   REPORTS  TO   OTHERS 

Cost  Elements. — Among  the  cost  elements  worth  con- 
sideration are: 

(1)  The  degree  to  which  reports  are  correct. 

(2)  The  degree  to  which  they  are  complete. 

(3)  The  degree  to  which  they  are  made  on  time. 

(4)  The  degree  to  which  the}^  are  made  in  the  prescribed 
form,  where  one  is  laid  down,  or  are  always  made  in  the  same 
way,  where  no  form  is  prescribed. 

(5)  The  degree  to  which  they  can  be  easily  read. 

(6)  The  degree  to  which  they  reach  all  persons  that  they 
should  reach. 

(7)  The  degree  to  which  they  are  written  or  spoken  with 
regard  to  the  special  conditions. 

The  Accuracy  and  Completeness  of  Reports. — ^All  that 
has  been  said  with  regard  to  the  accuracy  and  completeness  of 
records  will  apply  equally  well  to  reports,  and  so  no  great 
amount  of  discussion  is  required. 

A  few  suggestions  that  apply  especially  to  reports  may 
be  of  value.  Among  the  possible  cost  increasing  factors  in 
reporting  are  failure  to  include  all  the  information  required, 
because  the  person  making  the  report  does  not  know  what 
the  report  is  wanted  for.  This  is  more  liable  to  be  true  in  the 
case  of  special  reports  than  in  the  case  of  regular  routine  re- 
ports and  is  more  likely  to  apply  to  completeness  than 
to  accuracy. 

Another  difficulty  in  connection  with  reports  not  made  on 
prescribed  forms  is  a  failure  to  make  statements  clear  and 
specific,  that  is,  to  word  the  information  in  such  a  way  that 
there  is  no  doubt  as  to  its  meaning. 

The  Cost  Value  (A  Incomplete  Reports. — ^The  cost  value 


of  incomplete  reports  is  nearly  as  great  as  for  incorrect  re- 
ports. Possibly  they  are  more  dangerous  because  less  likely 
to  be  detected,  as  they  may  look  right.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
reports  areworthless  unless  they  tell  the  whole  story  that  they 
are  supposed  to  tell.  For  example,  a  report  is  supposed  to 
be  kept  of  the  conditions  under  which  a  man  was  discharged, 
is  supposed  to  include  length  of  service,  nature  of  job,  date 
of  discharge,  and  cause  for  discharge.  Some  time  later,  the 
man  claims  that  he  was  unjustly  discharged,  and  on  looking 
up  the  report,  it  appears  that  in  his  particular  case  no 
cause  was  given,  and  the  foreman  who  secured  his  discharge 
is  at  home  ill,  or  has  left  the  plant.    The  man's  story  goes. 

An  incomplete  time  sheet  can,  in  the  same  way,  cause  all 
sorts  of  cost  troubles.  It  should  be  noted  that  no  matter 
how  many  reports  may  be  complete,  one  that  is  incomplete 
may  start  all  sorts  of  trouble,  and  the  fact  that  all  others 
are  complete  will  not  help  in  that  particular  case. 

The  making  of  complete  reports,  as  called  for,  is  a  **high" 
point  in  the  cost  values  of  reporting,  and  a  foreman  should 
so  regard  it,  taking  all  possible  precautions  to  see  that  all 
reports  cover  all  facts  that  they  are  supposed  to  cover. 

Making  Reports  Promptly.— While  it  is  often  a  difficult 
thing  to  do,  the  value  of  any  report  from  the  cost  standpoint 
is  greatly  affected  by  the  degree  to  which  it  is  turned  in  at 
the  time  that  it  is  due. 

Promptness  is  implied  when  a  certain  time  is  set  for  the 
turning  in  of  reports,  and  when  a  foreman  is  called  upon  to 
furnish  information ;  if  he  is  a  good  manager,  he  gets  it  in 
on  time  by  so  planning  his  supervision  and  his  time  that  all 
necessary  information  is  on  hand  in  time  to  meet  any  expected 
demands  and  to  allow  for  compiling,  if  that  be  necessary.  In 
proportion  as  he  is  able  to  report  promptly,  he  cuts  down 
cost  in  a  number  of  ways  which  are  so  evident  that  they  need 
not  be  mentioned  here. 

Following  Procedure.— Where  a  standard  procedure  is 
called  for  in  reporting,  or  a  standard  form  is  provided,  any 


204 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


205 


departure  from  that  procedure,  or  that  form  is  liable  to  in- 
crease cost.  Much  trouble  in  connection  with  reports  may 
come  from  not  doing  this,  and  a  little  thought  and  planning 
devoted  to  the  development  of  ways  and  means  for  doing  this 
will  enable  a  foreman  to  send  in  reports  having  a  100  per  cent, 
value  from  this  special  standpoint,  because  they  contain  in- 
formation in  the  form  in  which  it  is  expected  by  whoever  is 
going  to  use  it. 

Getting  Reports  to  the  Right  People. — ^All  reports  are 
asked  for  because  some  one  needs  the  information  in  his  busi- 
ness, and  if  the  report  does  not  reach  him  but  goes  to  some 
one  else  who  has  no  use  for  it,  cost  increasing  elements  im- 
mediately get  to  work.  The  man  who  should  get  the  report 
is  tied  up  on  his  job,  the  man  who  does  get  it  and  does  not 
want  it  must  send  it  back,  and  be  set  back  on  his  job.  One 
important  managerial  problem  in  connection  with  reporting, 
therefore,  is  to  see  that  all  reports*  actually  reach  all  the 
people  whom  they  are  supposed  to  reach.  Of  course,  when 
it  can  be  done,  one  of  the  best  ways  of  doing  this  is  by  some 
sort  of  **back  checking,"  in  the  form  of  a  receipt,  a  state- 
ment by  phone,  etc.,  the  point  being  that  merely  sending  a 
report  "on  its  way"  is  not  the  whole  of  the  problem,  but  the 
sender,  in  some  way,  should  be  sure  that  it  is  properly  de- 
livered. Only  in  this  way  can  the  chances  of  increased  cost 
be  avoided. 

Verbal  vs.  Written  Reports.— Many  foremen  do  not 
think  of  spoken  reports  as  reports  at  all,  although  whenever 
there  is  a  passing  on  of  business  information,  a  report  is 
really  made.  When  a  foreman  says  to  his  superior,  "Mr. 
Smith,  we  can  get  those  castings  out  by  twelve  o'clock,"  or 
"Mr.  Jones,  that  man  is  no  good  on  that  job  and  I  want  you 
to  transfer  him  to  another  department,"  he*  is  making  a  re- 
port, just  as  much  as  though  he  wrote  it  out  on  paper. 

A  subject  that  will  bear  much  discussion  is  the  relative 
cost  values  of  written  or  spoken  reports  under  any  given  set 
of  conditions. 


Spoken  reports  are  easier  and  quicker,  written  reports 
are  more  trouble,  but  have  several  advantages,  among  which 
are  that  they  provide  a  permanent  record  and  that  they  can 
be  carefully  studied.  The  tendency  is  to  make  too  great  use 
of  spoken  reports.  As  an  example  of  a  method  of  securing 
written  reports  instead  of  spoken  reports,  some  concerns  have 
substituted  telautographs  for  telephones  because  the  former 
gives  a  written  record  and  the  latter  does  not. 

B.  SECURING  REPORTS  PROM  OTHERS  IN  THE  DEPARTMENT 

Preliminary. — ^It  will  often  happen  that  in  carrying  on 
the  work  of  his  department  a  foreman  takes  reports  from 
members  of  the  operating  force,  such  as  reports  on  tests,  or 
on  the  condition  of  some  part  of  the  equipment  or  in  regard 
to  some  operation  or  process. 

While  all  of  the  previous  discussion  with  regard  to  cost 
elements  on  reporting  applies  just  as  well  here  as  to  the  case 
where  a  foreman  makes  reports  to  others,  the  managerial 
problems  are  somewhat  different  because,  when  a  man  reports 
himself,  his  problem  is  to  make  the  report  and  make  it  right, 
whereas,  when  he  gets  a  report  from  others,  his  problem  is  to 
get  them  to  make  it  right,  that  is,  it  is  one  thing  to  do  the 
job  right  yourself  and  another  thing  to  get  somebody  else  to 
do  the  job  right.  On  this  account  it  has  seemed  worth  while 
to  include  some  additional  discussion  with  regard  to  this 
special  form  of  the  reporting  problem.  Since  the  cost  ele- 
ments are  the  same  they  are  not  repeated  here. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
may  be  stated  as  follows :  To  secure  reports  that  are  accurate, 
timely,  complete,  prompt,  legible  and  that  do  reach  the 
persons  for  whom  they  are  intended. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— As  already  stated  the  diffi- 
culties here  come  from  the  fact  that  somebody  else  does  the 
work  and  is  not,  as  a  rule,  checked  up  while  doing  it,  for,  if 
that  were  done,  a  foreman  might  as  well  do  the  work  himself. 
Among  the  managerial  devices  that  can  be  used  to  advantage 
are  the  following  that  may  be  at  least  suggestive. 


206 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


I 


Making  Clear  the  Importance  of  Reliable  Reports. — One 
way  in  which  this  problem  can  sometimes  be  dealt  with  to 
advantage  is  by  making  clear  to  the  reporter  the  importance 
and  necessity  for  correct  reports.  If  a  member  of  the  oper- 
ating force  has  the  responsibility  of  making  certain  observa- 
tions or  tests  on  which  he  reports  and  has  no  idea  what  it  is 
for  or  what  use  is  made  of  it,  or  what  may  happen  if  it  is  not 
correct,  he  is  much  more  likely  to  be  careless  for  two  reasons, 
first,  because  he  does  not  see  "that  it  makes  any  difference 
anyway,"  and  second,  he  will  have  less  sense  of  responsibility. 

A  man  who  is  simply  told  to  "read  that  hydrometer  once 
an  hour"  without  any  further  explanation  is  much  more  likely 
to  guess  at  a  few  degrees  or  hit  the  time  somewhere  near  than 
he  will  if  he  knows  that  the  exact  time  is  important  or  that  a 
difference  of  a  few  degrees  may  make  serious  trouble,  assum- 
ing that  to  be  the  case.  This  is  really  saying  that  he  is  short 
on  the  "I"  value  for  Richards'  formula  on  that  job.  In  many 
cases  careful  explanation  as  to  the  why  wiU  help  in  securing 
proper  reports  from  subordinates. 

Making  Accurate  Reports  Elasy. — This  has  already  been 
considered  in  the  previous  section,  but  is  again  referred  to 
here  for  the  special  case  where  a  report  from  a  subordinate  is 
based  on  some  sort  of  an  observation.  The  accuracy  with 
which  data  on  which  such  reports  are  based  is  often  deter- 
mined by  the  easy  or  difficult  conditions  under  which  they  are 
secured.  For  example,  in  a  certain  plant  it  was  necessary  to 
read  and  record  a  pressure  gauge  at  certain  times.  This 
gauge  was  set  high  up  on  a  post  in  a  dark  comer  and  every 
time  a  man  had  to  read  it  he  had  to  get  a  stepladder,  climb 
up  on  it  and  get  his  face  close  to  the  gauge  in  order  to  read 
it.  Under  these  conditions,  the  temptation  was  always  to 
stand  on  the  floor,  "  take  a  squint,"  and  "  allow  that  he  read 
about  so  much."  This  is  human  nature.  The  remedy  here 
was  to  bring  the  gauge  down,  or,  to  use  a  large  gauge  with 
a  shaded  light  in  front  of  it,  so  that  «f  would  he  as  easy  to  he 
accurate  as  to  he  inaccurate  and  so  reduce  possible  costs. 


COST  OF  INFORMATION  207 

As  a  manager,  in  order  to  insure  the  greatest  accuracy,  a 
foreman  should  plan  so  that  it  will  be  as  easy  to  make  accur- 
ate records  as  to  make  inaccurate  ones,  and,  in  proportion 
as  he  can  do  this,  he  can  reduce  costs  due  to  inaccuracy.  By 
properly  dealing  with  inaccurate  reports,  he  can  make  it 
evident  that  the  easiest  way  to  make  reports  is  to  make 
correct  ones. 

The  Value  of  Forms.— The  purpose  for  which  any  re- 
ports are  made  will  be  advanced,  so  far  as  such  things  as 
accuracy,  legibihty  and  so  on  are  concerned,  if  well  planned 
forms  are  used  for  recording  the  information  on  which  the 
reports  are  based.  Of  course,  where  such  forms  are  pro- 
vided under  the  procedure,  this  matter  is  taken  care  of,  but 
where  that  is  not  the  case  and  it  is  up  to  the  foreman  he  can 
greatly  reduce  the  chance  of  trouble  by  working  out  suitable 
forms  and  not  leaving  data  to  be  set  down^on  any  sort  of  a 
piece  of  paper  "in  any  old  way." 

The  Value  of  Simplicity.-As  in  the  discussion  in  the  last 
section  on  this  point,  the  simpler  the  form  of  the  report  the 
better,  and  for  the  same  reasons  as  are  fully  discussed  there 

Cutting  Out  the  Human  Factor.-As  has  already  been 
mentioned  in  another  connection,  it  is  quite  generally  ac- 
cepted that,  whenever  the  human  factor  can  be  cut   out, 
accuracy  in  reporting  is  increased.     That  is,  a  recording 
machine  is  less  likely  to  make  a  slip  than  a  human  being.    It 
does  not  get  tired,  it  is  always  on  the  job,  and,  if  it  goes  out 
of  business,  it  stops,  gives  no  report,  and  under  many  condi- 
tions will  not  give  a  false  report.    The  extensive  use  of  adding 
machines  illustrates  this  point.    In  general,  whenever  a  fore- 
man has  an  opportunity  to  use,  or  to  recommend  the  intro- 
duction of  automatic  devices  to  advantage,  it  will  be  an 
unusual  case  where  their  use  won't  help  him  as  a  manager  in 
cutting  down  the  chance  of  getting  inaccurate  reports. 

However,  a  quite  complete  analysis  of  any  given  situa- 
tion  should  be  made  before  requesting  the  use  of  automatic 
aevices    whose    cost    might    be    greater    than    an    effective 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

carrying  out  of  the  regular  procedure  without  them.  Auto- 
matic reporters  have  a  distinct  value  when  correctly  used,  and 
are  positive  evidence  of  performance.  Where  such  things  as 
time,  temperature  pressure,  weight,  specific  gravity,  etc., 
form  important  parts  of  records,  their  registration  by  auto- 
matic devices  is  generally  advantageous. 

SECTION   rv.    COST   ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGEEIAL   PROBLEMS   ON 
OBDEKS,   DIRECTIONS  AND   SUGGESTIONS   TO   THE 

WORKING  FORCE 

Preliminary. — ^The  terms  orders,  directions,  suggestions 
were  defined  in  Chapter  XIII  and  are  used  in  the  same  sense 
here.  The  discussion  as  to  the  way  in  which  orders,  direc- 
tions and  suggestions  may  affect  interest,  satisfaction,  turn- 
over, etc.,  and  so  become  cost  elements  on  the  human  factor 
side  is  given  in  Part  VII.  This  section  only  deals  with 
the  question  of  orders,  etc.,  so  far  as  they  may  be  considered 
as  one  means  of  conveying  information  from  one  person  to 
another,  in  this  case  from  the  foreman  to  somebody  else,  usu- 
ally some  member  of  the  operating  force  of  the  department, 
though,  in  the  case  of  suggestions,  it  may  be  to  his  superiors. 
In  the  following  discussion  it  is  to  be  understood  that 
**orders"  also  cover  directions  and  suggestions. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  cost  elements  that  may  be 
worth  discussion  might  be : 

1.  The  completeness  of  orders. 

2.  The  clearness  of  orders. 

3.  The  brevity  of  orders. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  orders  are  known  to  be  fully 

understood. 

5.  The  degree  to  which  they  are  given  to  the  right  person 
or  reach  the  person  that  they  should  reach. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  take  as  little  time  as  possible  in  giving  orders  but  to  have 
them  fully  understood  and  to  know  that  they  are  fully 
understood  by  the  right  person. 


COST  OP  INFORMATION 


S09 


SECTION   v.    COST   ELEMENTS   AND   MANAGERIAL   PROBLEMS   ON 
ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

Preliminary.— -Since  orders,  directions  and  suggestions 
all  have  the  same  purpose  and  are  in  reality  only  three  dif- 
ferent ways  of  doing  the  same  thing,  they  are  taken  up 
together,  such  minor  differences  as  may  come  up  being 
pointed  out  as  they  come  along. 

Giving  and  Taking  Orders.— By  virtue  of  his  position,  a 
foreman  stands  in  two  positions  as  regards  orders,  he  takes 
them  from  his  superiors  and  he  gives  them  to  the  members  of 
the  operating  force.  Unless  otherwise  stated,  it  will  be  under- 
stood that  the  points  taken  up  here  apply  to  giving  orders 
rather  than  to  receiving  them,  although  certain  managerial 
problems  in  connection  with  carrying  out  orders  are  taken  up. 

Cost  Elements.--Among  the  more  probable  specific  cost 
elements  that  may  come  in  in  connection  with  the  giving  of 
orders,  directions  and  suggestions  are : 

1.  The  degree  to  which  only  necessary  orders,  directions 
and  suggestions  are  given. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  all  orders  and  directions  are  fully 
understood. 

3.  The  degree  to  which  they  are  obeyed  or  carried  out. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  a  proper  choice  is  made  between 
written  and  spoken  orders. 

For  receiving  orders,  directions  and  suggestions  and  for 
making  suggestions  to  superiors  some  of  the  more  important 
specific  cost  elements  might  be: 

1.  The  degree  to  which  orders  are  fully  carried  out, 
as  intended. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  suggestions  are  given  proper 
consideration. 

3.  The  degree  to  which  all  directions  are  followed. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  all  orders  are  fully  under- 
stood before  they  are  acted  upon.  (Also  true  for  directions 
and  suggestions.) 

14 


flO 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


til 


Giving  Only  Necessary  Orders,  Etc—It  is  quite  possible 
to  increase  cost  by  giving  unnecessary  orders,  directions  or 
suggestions.  Among  the  detailed  cost  elements  that  may 
come  in  here  may  be : 

1.  Wasted  time  and  energy  that  could  be  put  in  better 
somewhere  else. 

2.  Actual  confusion  on  the  part  of  the  worker  increasing 
the  chance  of  misunderstandings  and  mistakes. 

3.  Resentment  on  the  part  of  a  competent  worker  at  the 
implication  that  he  does  not  know  his  job  or  "hasn't  got 
anything  above  his  shoulders." 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  is  to 
give  only  necessary  orders,  directions  or  suggestions,  as  the 
case  may  be. 

Dealing  With  the  Problem.— Any  time  that  a  foreman 
spends  in  giving  unnecessary  orders  is  a  waste  of  time,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  directions  and  suggestions.  The  more 
that  any  foreman  can  cut  out  unnecessary  work  of  this  kind 
the  better.  No  standard  rule  can  be  set  up  to  determine  when 
orders  are  or  are  not  necessary,  but  in  general  it  may  be 
said  that  when  a  worker  is  attending  to  his  job  all  right  and 
seems  to  know  what  he  is  about,  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to 
let  him  alone. 

Unfortunately,  some  people  in  supervisory  positions  are 
so  afraid  that  something  will  go  wrong  that  they  are  continu- 
ally "butting  in"  where  there  is  no  reason  for  doing  so.  This 
habit  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that  such  supervisors  have  no 
idea  of  what  constitutes  proper  instruction  and  so  are  never 
sure  that  anybody  knows  how  to  do  anything  right. 

One  danger  in  this  habit  of  continually  "overordering"  is 
that  the  worker  gets  so  that  he  loses  all  confidence  in  his 
ability  to  do  the  job  anyhow,  and  this  results  in  a  poor  men- 
tal attitude  as  taken  up  in  Part  VII.  In  most  cases, 
after  the  order  or  direction  has  once  been  given  so  that  it  is 
clearly  understood,  if  the  worker  knows  the  job,  he  can  be 


trained  to  know  when  he  needs  additional  help  and  got  so 
that  he  knows  enough  to  ask  for  it.  The  two  main  man- 
agerial devices  here  are  therefore,  first,  such  instruction  as 
may  be  necessary  to  get  competent  workers  and  second,  learn- 
ing to  tell  when  additional  orders  or  directions  are  required, 
and  unless  they  are  necessary,  letting  the  man  alone.  A  help 
in  this  would  be  a  high  and  low  point  supervisory  lay-out  as 
described  in  Chapter  IX. 

The  degree  to  which  this  can  be  accomplished  will  depend 
to  a  considerable  extent  on  the  degree  to  which  orders 
are  fully  understood  when  given  the  first  time. 

Getting  Orders,  Directions  and  Suggestions  Fully  Un- 
derstood.—One  very  serious  point  in  connection  with  the 
giving  of  orders,  directions  and  suggestions  is  to  get  them 
understood  the  first  time.  A  considerable  amount  of  informa- 
tion that  bears  on  this  matter  is  given  in  the  chapters  on 
instruction  and  is  not  repeated  here,  but,  as  pointed  out  in 
the  list  of  possible  cost  elements,  if  orders  are  not  fully  under- 
stood a  very  serious  cost  element  comes  into  play.  Among 
the  detailed  cost  elements  that  may  come  in  here  are : 

1.  The  work  is  done  incorrectly,  resulting  in  poor  qual- 
ity, reduction  in  quantity. 

2.  Damage  to  the  equipment. 

3.  Accidents. 

4.  Time  and  temper  lost  in  repeating  orders  that  should 
have  "carried"  the  first  time. 

And  many  others  that  will  suggest  themselves. 

The  Managerial  Problem.- The  managerial  problem  here 
IS  to  get  orders  or  directions  understood  the  first  time,  or, 
strictly  speaking,  to  get  the  job  done  right  as  a  result  of  the 
first  order  or  direction. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— The  problem  of  getting 
orders  understood  is  generally  regarded  as  a  very  diflSicult 
one  and  rightly  so,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  out 
positively  that  they  have  been  really  "taken  in."  This  is 
especially  true  of  new  workers  if  they  are  scared,  as  many  of 
them  are,  especially  if  they  are  not  English  speaking  people. 


f 


f  ^^"101 


212 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  OP  INFORMATION 


818 


Whatever  the  conditions,  however,  there  are  some  things  that 
can  be  done  in  all  cases,  among  which  are : 

1.  Making  orders  or  directions  complete. 

2.  Making  them  clear. 

3.  Making  them  short. 

4.  Making  sure  that  they  are  understood. 
6.  Giving  them  to  the  right  person. 

Making  Orders  Complete. — The  "You  know  it  and  I  know 
it  and  so  we  won't  talk  about  it"  habit  in  giving  orders  is 
liable  to  lead  to  increased  costs  in  a  number  of  ways,  because 
often  when  it  is  assumed  that  the  other  fellow  knows  it  he 
doesn't  know  it  and  sometimes  he  can't  know  it.  This  results 
in  lost  time,  disputes  (  "Didn't  I  tell  you ! ! !"  "How  in  blazes 
could  I  know  what  you  wanted!"  and  so  on)  and  sometimes 
lost  production  because  the  other  fellow  went  ahead  and 
"took  a  chance"  when  he  was  not  sure,  or  thought  he  knew 
when  he  didn't.  An  example  of  this  is  the  following  case: 
A  foreman  was  heard  to  say  to  a  man,  "Go  up  on  that  ship 
and  chip  down  the  hatch  combing  six  inches,"  and  later  found 
the  man  loafing  and  "bawled  him  out"  for  not  being  on  the 
job.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  this  case  there  were  three  decks 
on  the  ship  and  four  or  five  hatchways  on  each  deck.  The 
foreman  assumed  that  the  chipper  knew  which  deck  and  which 
hatchway  the  order  applied  to,  when  he  did  not;  was  too 
lazy  or  stupid  to  ask  until  after  the  foreman  had  gone,  and 
"loafed  around"  waiting  for  him  to  come  back,  possibly 
thinking  that  he  had  a  clear  alibi  anyway  for  a  "  vacation," 
which,  in  a  way,  he  did.  Another  illustration  of  an  incomplete 
order  is,  "Some  of  you  men  do  so  and  so,"  without  indicating 
the  men  to  whom  the  order  is  given. 

The  Elements  of  a  Good  Order. — ^An  order  is  not  com- 
plete unless  it  covers  the  following  points  which  may  be  called 
the  elements  of  a  complete  order. 

1.  How  the  job  is  to  be  done. 

2.  When  it  is  to  be  done. 

3.  Where  it  is  to  be  done. 

4.  Who  is  to  do  it. 


This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  in  all  cases  a  foreman 
must  tell  a  competent  man  exactly  how  a  given  job  is  to  be 
done  in  great  detail  which  would,  in  many  cases  be  foolish, 
but  it  does  mean  that  when  he  gives  an  order  or  makes  a  sug- 
gestion to  a  worker,  he  must  be  sure  that  these  four  points 
are  covered  between  what  he  knows  that  the  man  knows  about 
the  job  and  what  he  tells  him.  In  the  first  case  given  above 
the  foreman  slipped  up  in  assuming  that  the  chipper  knew 
the  deck  and  the  hatch  when  he  did  not,  and  the  chipper 
slipped  up  in  not  asking  before  the  foreman  got  away.  Of 
course,  both  were  to  blame,  but,  as  the  responsible  party, 
it  was  up  to  the  foreman  to  be  sure  that  the  order  was 
completely  covered. 

Failure  to  make  orders  complete  is,  of  course,  due  to  a 
number  of  reasons,  among  which  are  "rush"  and  "taking  a 
chance"  that  the  man  knows  it  without  making  sure  that  he 
does  know  it.  This  is  especially  the  case  where  men  have 
never  been  properly  instructed  on  the  job  as  discussed  in  the 
chapter  on  carelessness  (Chapter  XXIV). 

It  is  good  management,  therefore,  to  be  sure  that  all 
orders  are  thoroughly  "put  across"  on  all  four  points,  espe- 
cially with  men  who  are  new  to  the  job,  or  to  the  plant  and 
to  know  your  man  before  "cutting  corners"  in  the  giving  of 
orders  or  making  suggestions.  Failure  to  do  this  will 
unquestionably  increase  cost  in  a  number  of  ways  which  will 
readily  occur  to  any  foreman. 

Making  Orders  Clear.— While  this  is  not,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  as  important  a  matter  as  that  just  considered, 
under  some  conditions  it  may  have  a  considerable  cost  affect- 
ing value,  especially  in  the  case  of  young  workers  or  green 
men.  An  order  might  cover  all  the  points  discussed  in  the 
last  paragraph  and  yet  fail  to  be  put  across  because  the  per- 
son to  whom  the  order  was  directed  did  not  understand  the 
language  that  was  used.  As  an  extreme  illustration,  the 
order,  "Bill  Jones,  go  aloft  right  away  and  splice  in  a  new 
main  upper  topsail  starboard  buntline"  would  be  "Greek"  to 
a  green  hand  on  an  old  time  ship,  and  to  anybody  except  a 


ir',%- 


814 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


215 


sailor  who  was  used  to  **square  riggers,"  yet  it  covers  all  of 
the  four  points  necessary  for  a  complete  order.  One  common 
case  where  this  comes  up  is  in  the  case  of  foreign  speaking 
workers  who  only  know  a  little  English.  When  an  order 
is  given  that  they  do  not  understand  are  afraid  to  say  so 
and  so  get  into  trouble.  This  has  been  very  noticeable,  for 
example,  in  instructing  or  directing  the  attention  of  new 
workers  to  danger  points  in  cotton  mills. 

The  same  difficulty  is  liable  to  arise  in  the  case  of  young 
workers,  especially  girls,  and  for  the  same  reason,  with  the 
additional  difficulty  that  in  such  cases  the  young  worker  does 
not  know  enough  to  know  that  he  has  not  "got  it." 

In  all  cases  of  the  giving  of  orders  and  directions,  but 
especially  in  the  cases  just  mentioned,  it  is  especially  desir- 
able that,  in  covering  the  four  points,  each  point  should  be 
"cleaned  up"  before  going  to  the*  next,  that  there  should  be 
no  "back  tracking." 

In  general,  therefore,  a  foreman  has  managerial  problems 
to  make  all  orders  clear  with  regard  to  the  special  character 
of  the  people  to  whom  he  gives  them  and  to  the  degree  to  which 
he  succeeds  in  doing  this  he  reduces  cost. 

Making  Orders  Brief.— If  an  order  or  suggestion  is  com- 
plete and  clear,  the  shorter  it  is  the  better,  because : 

1.  Time  is  saved  and 

2.  There  is  less  chance  for  confusion.  The  order  is  more 
easily  taken  in. 

All  other  things  being  equal,  Finnigan's  famous  report, 
"Off  agin,  on  agin,  gone  agin"  in  reply  to  the  order  "Boil 
'em  down"  from  the  Division  Super  was  good  business  on  both 
sides.  A  famous  naval  writer  once  claimed  that  one  of  the 
reasons  that,  during  the  wars  between  France  and  England 
at  the  time  of  Napoleon,  the  English  ships  beat  the  French 
ships  was  because  it  took  considerably  longer  to  give  an  order 
in  French  than  in  English  and  that  this  fact  counted  in  get- 
ting "quick  action"  in  battle. 

At  all  events  the  motto,  "The  less  you  talk  the  better, 
provided  you  say  it  all"  is  a  good  one  to  follow  anywhere  in 


business  and  is  as  good  for  a  foreman  as  anybody  else,  and  in 
proportion  as  he  puts  it  into  practice  he  reduces  the  chances 
of  increasing  cost.  "Wind"  is  as  expensive  in  giving  orders 
as  it  is  in  an  air  hoist,  especially  a  leaky  one. 

Knowing  that  Orders  are  Understood.— This  point  has 
already  been  discussed  from  one  angle  in  a  previous  para- 
graph, but,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  here,  it  refers  to 
the  necessity  of  being  sure  that  orders  are  fully  grasped 
before  going  on  to  some  other  part  of  the  job.  While  an 
intelligent  worker  should  know  enough  to  say  that  he  does 
not  understand  when  this  happens,  many  cases  have  come  up 
where  he  did  not  get  it,  and  a  foreman  cannot  depend  on  the 
other  fellow  in  this  matter.  Of  course  he  will  use  his  judgment 
as  to  how  far  to  go  when  he  knows  his  man,  but,  in  the  last 
analysis  it  is  his  responsibility  and  not  the  worker's  and, 
according  to  the  good  or  poor  management  with  which  this 
matter  is  handled  by  a  foreman,  costs  will  be  increased  or 
reduced.  This  point  is  worth  careful  consideration  by  all 
foremen,  especially  with  regard  to  the  type  of  worker,  the 
length -of  time  that  he  has  been  on  the  job,  the  simplicity  or 
complexity  of  the  order  and  all  other  points  that  count. 

Reaching  the  Right  Person.— This  case  is  most  likely  to 
come  up  in  the  question  of  written  orders,  such  as  work  orders 
or  other  cases  of  this  sort.  For  example,  in  one  plant,  defects 
in  certain  departmental  products  that  only  came  to  light 
after  the  material  had  left  the  department  made  necessary 
the  returning  of  such  defective  material  with  rework  orders, 
each, of  which  applied  to  one  particular  piece.  Serious  loss 
occurred  because,  in  many  cases,  these  rework  orders  were 
not  firmly  attached  to  the  pieces  and  so  were  lost  in  transit 
and  never  reached  the  people  who  needed  the  information  to 
rework  the  job.* 

*  It  might  be  an  interesting  point  to  mention  in  connection  with  this 
case  that  a  conference  discussion  brought  out  the  fact  that  whereas 
wire  holders  had  been  provided  to  attach  the  rework  orders  to  the  mate- 
rial they  were  not  used,  but  the  rework  orders  were  merely  stuck  into 
some  hole  in  the  articles  so  that  they  often  fell  out  or  were  blown  out 
m  trucking. 


«16 


THB  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


Since  this  case  has  been  taken  up  in  connection  with  re- 
ports it  is  not  considered  further  here. 

The  Degree  to  Which  Orders  are  Carried  Out. — ^Assum- 
ing that  only  •necessary  orders  or  directions  have  been  given 
and  that  they  have  been  fully  understood,  the  degree  to  which 
they  are  carried  out  as  intended  is  a  cost  element  and  so 
gives  rise  to  a  managerial  problem  to  get  orders  correctly 
carried  out. 

Cost  Elements. — The  cost  elements  are  so  evident  here 
that  they  do  not  really  need  any  suggesting,  but  one  point 
may  be  brought  up,  and  that  is  that  the  cost  comes  out,  not 
on  account  of  defiance  of  authority  but  in  a  failure  to  secure 
the  purpose  for  which  the  order  was  given.  If  a  man  is 
ordered  or  directed  to  make  a  box  8  x  12  inches  square  and 
16  inches  high,  and  he  actually  makes  one  of  some  other 
dimensions  the  cost  comes  out  of  the  fact  that  a  box  has 
been  made  that  nobody  wants :  so  much  time  and  labor  wasted, 
and  not  directly  out  of  the  fact  that  the  workman  "dis- 
obeyed orders." 

Dealing  witli  the  Problem.— -The  main  point  in  dealing 
with  this  problem  is  to  realize  that  a  deliberate  intention  to 
disobey  orders  is  very  rare  under  most  ordinary  conditions 
and  a  case  of  apparent  disobedience  should  be  carefully 
analyzed  before  treating  it  as  such. 

For  illustration,  it  should  be  made  certain  at  least  that 
the  order  was  clear  and  was  understood,  that  the  worker  knew 
how  to  do  the  job,  and  that  the  conditions  were  such  that  he 
could  do  it,  and  that  it  any  of  these  cases  were  not  true,  he 
was  not  too  scared  or  unintelligent  to  report  the  fact. 

This  point  is  brought  out  here  because  anybody  in  a 
position  of  authority  naturally  expects  orders  to  be  obeyed, 
and  rightly  so,  yet  when  orders  fail  to  be  carried  out  it  is  a 
trait  of  human  nature  to  make  a  personal  matter  of  it.  "The 
dignity  of  the  position  must  be  kept  up."  This  idea  is  well 
illustrated  by  what  is  said  to  have  been  the  procedure  on  some 
ships  in  the  old  days  when  the  duty  of  a  second  mate  was  al- 
ways to  hit  a  man  before  giving  an  order,  **just  to  keep  up 


COST  OP  INFORMATION 


217 


the  understanding  that  he  was  the  mate."  The  point  here  is 
that  a  good  manager  will  always  make  sure  first  that  what 
seems  like  a  case  of  disobedience  is  actual  disobedience  and 
then  will  handle  that  case  impersonally. 

Since  this  sort  of  management  depends  largely  on  human 
factors  as  taken  up  in  another  chapter,  this  point  is  not 
followed  up  any  further  here. 

^  Written  or  Spoken  Orders.— Orders  can  be  spoken  or 
written.  When  written  they  have  the  advantage  of  being 
permanent  and  leaving  a  record  as  to  just  what  the  order 
was.  A  man  can  refer  to  them  over  and  over  again,  as  in 
the  case  of  a  stock  order  on  general  stores,  and  a  written 
order  can  be  used  for  a  checking  list  which  cannot  be  done 
with  ^  order  that  is  spoken.  Under  ordinary  conditions  in 
carrying  on  work  it  would,  of  course,  be  perfectly  foolish  to 
use  written  orders  and  nobody  in  his  senses  would  think  of 
going  to  such  an  absurdity. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  with  spoken  orders  there  is  much 
more  chance  for  misunderstandings  and  the  omission  of  some 
important  point,  as  well  as  a  good  deal  of  trusting  to  memory 
with  the  corresponding  chance  of  error. 

Cost  Elements. — ^The  cost  elements  as  between  written 
and  spoken  orders  might  be  stated,  at  least  in  part,  as  follows  : 


Written  orders. 

Take  more  time. 
Can  be  made  complete. 
Better  chance  of  being  un- 
derstood. 
Leave  a  record. 


Spoken  orders. 

Take  less  time. 

More   chance   of   not   being 

complete. 
More    chance   of   not   being 

understood. 
Leave  no  record. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  is  to 
use  written  orders  whenever  necessary  and  not  use  them  when 
not  necessary. 

Dealing  with,  the  Problem.— In  general,  the  more  im- 
portant the  matter,  the  greater  the  probability  that  it  will 


i 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

pay  to  use  written  instead  of  spoken  orders  or  directions. 
In  practically  all  cases  suggestions  made  to  subordinates  in 
the  ordinary  run  of  the  work  can  be  spoken  with  safety. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  where  the  matter  is  im- 
portant, where  a  record  is  desirable  or  where  the  orders  ot 
directions  must  go  into  great  detail,  written  orders  will  pay. 
Where  these  conditions  do  not  prevail,  spoken  orders  and 
directions  are  plenty  good  enough. 

Taking  Orders. — The  question  as  to  management  on 
taking  orders  "from  above"  brings  up  about  the  same  sets 
of  cost  elements  and  questions  of  management  except  that 
a  man  holding  down  a  foreman's  job  can  be  naturally  ex- 
pected to  take  more  initiative  and  deal  with  matters  more 
intelligently  than  can  be  required  of  a  member  of  the  work- 
ing force.  This  fact  brings  up  a  number  of  considerations 
that  have  not  been  considered  up  to  this  time  in  connection 
with  orders,  directions  and  suggestions. 

Special  Cost  Elements. — Among  the  special  cost  elements 
that  may  be  worth  considering  might  be : 

1.  The  cost  of  not  carrying  out  orders  so  that  the  de- 
sired results  are  obtained. 

2.  The  cost  of  not  using  intelligence  in  carrying  out 
orders. 

3.  The  cost  of  not  asking  for  additional  or  modified 
orders  when  necessary. 

4.  The  cost  of  not  "back  checking"  when  necessary. 
Carrying  Out  Orders. — Of  course,  a  failure  to  carry  out 

orders  means  increased  cost  and  no  special  discussion  is  re- 
quired. The  more  orders  are  carried  out  promptly,  accu- 
rately, and  intelligently  the  lower  the  cost.  One  important 
point  in  this  connection  is  that  in  any  organization  the  whole 
efficiency  of  the  work  depends  on  orders  being  carried  out, 
because  an  organization  is  a  team,  and  in  any  team  somebody 
must  give  orders  and  somebody  else  must  carry  them  out.  Of 
course,  the  above  statement  does  not  mean  that  the  sub- 
ordinate is  to  obey  orders  blindly,  but  that  with  due  regard 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


219 


for  the  points  discussed  below  there  "can't  be  two  captains 
on  one  ship"  and  get  anywhere. 

Carrying  Out  Orders  Intelligently. — The  foreman  is  the 
man  directly  responsible  for  carrying  out  the  job.  If  the 
job  falls  down  he  may  share  the  responsibility,  but  he  can 
not  "duck  it."  As  the  man  nearest  to  the  job,  knowing  de- 
tails that  no  one  "higher  up"  can  know,  he  must  take  the 
responsibility  of  carrying  out  orders  intelligently.  He  can 
not  go  on  the  principle  of  "obeying  orders  and  breaking 
owners,"  as  used  to  be  said  in  the  days  of  the  old  sailing 
clippers  that  ran  between  New  York  and  Liverpool.  This 
means  that  he  must  know  what  the  orders  mean — ^just  what 
the  superior  wished  to  accomplish.  In  order  to  do  this  it 
is  often  necessary  to  know  when  to  ask  for  further  or  sup- 
plementary orders. 

Knowing  When  to  Ask  for  Orders. — One  of  the  most 
important  cost  elements  in  connection  with  taking  orders  is 
the  degree  to  which  a  foreman  knows  when  to  ask  for  supple- 
mentary orders  or  new  orders.  In  almost  any  work,  cases 
will  come  up  where  the  situation  changes  or  some  unforeseen 
conditions  crop  up.  If,  under  such  conditions,  foreman  A 
goes  on  according  to  his  original  orders  and  foreman  B  asks 
for  revised  orders,  foreman  B  has  cut  costs  more  than  fore- 
man A.  Of  course,  in  many  cases  a  foreman  handles  the  new 
situation  himself,  and  it  is  as  important  to  know  when  to  act 
yourself  as  to  know  when  to  "send  an  S.  O.  S."  Running 
back  to  superiors  for  orders  when  it  is  unnecessary  increases 
cost ;  not  going  back  when  necessary  also  increases  cost. 

Of  course,  in  this  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  "horse 
sense,"  but  it  is  merely  desired  to  call  attention  here  to  the 
cost    elements    involved    in    the    exercise    of    judgment    in 

such  matters. 

An  example  of  this  situation  would  be  in  the  case  of 
moving  a  house.  The  contractor  tells  the  foreman  in  charge 
to  go  down  a  certain  street.  Later  the  foreman  discovers 
that  part  way  down  the  street  there  is  a  "soft  spot"  where  a 


I  I 


fflO 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


221 


t|fi|! 


sewer  has  been  put  in.  If  he  obeys  orders  he  is  likely  to  have 
the  street  settle  on  him  and  possibly  put  the  job  out  of  busi- 
ness. If  he  is  intelligently  following  orders  he  stops  the 
job  and  asks  for  further  orders.  It  is  a  part  of  his  job 
to  do  so. 

This,  of  course,  illustrates  a  case  where  something  un- 
foreseen comes  up  that  was  not  known  when  the  orders  were 
issued.  Another  case  might  be  where  the  superior  had  for- 
gotten something  which  would  call  for  "back  checking." 

"Back  Checking." — However  carefully  orders  are  drawn, 
there  is  always  the  chance  of  errors  or  omissions.  For  ex- 
ample, a  foreman  in  a  print  shop  gets  an  order  for  wedding 
invitations  to  be  printed  on  news  stock,  or  a  foreman  in  a 
machine  shop  gets  an  order  to  turn  out  a  number  of  pairs 
of  bevel  gears,  one  set  37°  and  the  other  90°.  In  both  cases 
there  is  evidently  an  error,  and  it  is  up  to  the  foreman  to 
**back  check"  and  get  the  error  corrected  before  starting 
the  job.  Again,  in  the  case  of  house  moving,  suppose  careful 
directions  were  given  as  to  placing  jacks  under  the  main  sills, 
but  no  directions  as  to  an  ell  which,  if  directions  were  followed 
as  given,  would  be  unsupported  when  the  house  was  lifted. 
It  is  up  to  the  foreman  to  draw  the  attention  of  his  superior 
to  that  omission  before  he  starts  the  job. 

The  foreman,  therefore,  has  a  responsibility  for  **back 
checking"  orders  both  to  guard  against  errors  and  omissions 
and  to  "pool"  his  definite  detailed  knowledge  of  the  job 
with  that  of  the  superior;  if  he  is  onto  his  job  he  can  not 
merely  take  orders  and  follow  them  blindly. 

Of  course,  the  intelligent  foUowing  of  orders  in  the  way 
it  is  done  is  largely  a  matter  of  cooperation,  as  discussed 
in  the  notes  under  that  heading,  but  the  responsibility  is  on 
the  foreman  to  "use  his  head"  in  carrying  out  orders  to  what- 
ever extent  is  possible  under  the  working  arrangements. 

Reducing  Time  Spent  in  Giving  Orders,  Directions  and 
Suggestions  to  a  Minimum.— The  question  of  time  which  is 
to  be  spent  by  a  foreman  in  getting  his  orders,  directions  and 


suggestions  to  his  working  force  can  be  best  solved  after  a 
good  distribution  of  supervisory  work  has  been  laid  out. 
With  well-planned  supervision  the  plans  and  points  at  which 
orders  and  directions  are  required  suggest  themselves,  and  by 
giving  the  required  orders  and  directions  sufficient  time  when 
they  are  issued,  to  make  certain  they  "go  over,"  time  in  going 
over  the  same  ground  more  than  once  will  be  saved. 

In  general,  the  fewer  the  number  of  orders  and  the  per- 
tinent nature  of  the  directions  and  suggestions  all  help  to 
keep  the  time  required  down  to  a  normal  rate. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

PART  V 

1.  A  foreman  in  making  his  rounds  notices  that  a  man  is 
trying  to  handle  a  piece  of  stock  that  is  too  heavy  to  handle 
alone  and  not  have  a  chance  of  breakage.  He  says  to  the 
man,  "  that  piece  is  too  heavy  for  you  to  handle  alone, 
get  somebody  to  help  you."  Anything  the  matter  with 
that  order? 

2.  A  man  right  out  of  the  Ford  factory  is  employed  in 
a  Ford  service  station  which  also  takes  other  makes  of 
cars.  A  Dodge  comes  in  with  a  broken  drive  shaft.  The 
foreman  orders  this  man  to  take  out  the  broken  shaft.  Is 
that  order  all  right? 

3.  A  man  has  been  employed  as  a  helper  on  a  job  and  is 
promoted  to  a  worker  on  that  job.  When  he  goes  onto  the 
job  for  the  first  time  the  foreman  simply  tells  him  to  "  go 
to  it.  "    Is  that  foreman  taking  any  chance? 

4.  What  is  the  easiest  way  in  which  a  foreman  can  fall 
down  in  giving  an  order? 

5.  A  man  has  been  employed  as  a  riveter  in  structural 
steel  work.  He  was  a  good  man  on  the  job.  During  the 
war  he  was  taken  on  by  a  shipyard.    The  first  day  that  he 


28S 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  OP  INFORMATION 


288 


went  to  work  the  foreman  ordered  him  to  "  rivet  up  those 
intercostals."     Anything  the  matter  with  that  order? 

6.  A  man  has  been  employed  in  a  cabinet-making  shop 
for  several  years.  He  is  a  fine  workman.  He  is  given  a 
very  fine  piece  of  cabinet  work  to  do  that  calls  for  doing 
a  job  that  he  never  has  happened  to  strike  before  and  which 
calls  for  a  dovetail  joint  where  the  ordinary  method  would 
be  to  use  a  half  lap  joint.  The  foreman  knows  this.  Which 
would  be  the  better,  to  say,  «  BiU,  make  that  joint  with  a 
dovetaa  "  or  «  Bill,  don't  you  think  that  joint  had  better 
be  made  with  a  dovetaU".?  As  a  matter  of  manage- 
ment?   Why? 

7.  What  is  liable  to  be  the  effect  of  a  direct  order  on 
a  competent  workman?    Why? 

8.  Can  directions  be  made  as  clear  as  direct  orders?  Why? 

9.  A  foreman  gives  the  following  order.  "  One  of  you 
men  get  that  box  out  of  that  truck."  If  there  is  some  delay 
whose  fault  is  it? 

10.  A  man  is  quite  new  on  the  job.  The  foreman  sees 
him  handling  a  piece  of  stock  in  such  a  way  that  there  is 
danger  of  breakage.  The  foreman  says,  "Don't  break 
that  "!  What  is  the  matter  with  that  order?  If  the  piece 
was  broken  who  would  be  to  blame? 

11.  A  truck  load  of  material  is  properly  marked  for 
delivery.  The  foreman  orders  the  driver  to  deliver  it  as 
marked.  The  driver  fails  to  deliver  it  where  it  should  be 
delivered.    Who  is  to  blame? 

12.  When  a  foreman  receives  orders  from  his  superior 
how  does  his  responsibility  differ  from  that  of  a  workman 
when  he  receives  orders  from  his  foreman? 

13.  A  foreman  received  a  general  order  reading  as  fol- 
lows :  "  There  has  been  difficulty  in  keeping  machines  prop- 
erly oiled  by  the  men  who  operate  them.  Each  operator 
is  required  to  keep  his  machine  properly  oiled.    Please  attend 


to  this  matter  with  the  men  in  your  department."    He  posts 
this  order  on  the  bulletin  board  in  his  department. 

a.  Has  he  discharged  his  responsibility? 

b.  If  not,  has  he  failed  as  a  manager  or  as 
a  supervisor? 

c.  What  should  he  do  in  addition  to  posting 
the  order? 

d.  Any  use  in  posting  the  order  anjrway?    Why? 

14.  A  communication  comes  down  from  above  reading 
as  follows :  "On  way  26  the  riveting  work  is  reported  by  the 
inspectors  as  unsatisfactory.     Please  attend  to  this  matter." 

a.  What  should  a  foreman  do? 

b.  The  foreman  has  had  trouble  with  the  number 
of  defective  rivets  that  have  had  to  be  cut  out.  Should 
he  go  ahead  and  assume  that  these  poor  rivets  are  what 
the  communication  refers  to? 

15.  A  foreman  in  a  chemical  plant  gets  an  order  as 
follows:  "Too  many  leaky  cranks  are  coming  out  of  your 
department.  Please  attend  to  this  matter."  His  depart- 
ment turns  out  gas  in  pressure  tanks,  and  solid  sulphur  tri- 
oxide  in  cans.    What  should  he  do? 

16.  In  carrying  on  a  standard  operation  according  to 
the  regular  procedure,  in  making  sulphuric  acid,  a  foreman 
notices  that  he  is  not  getting  his  regular  product  although 
he  is  sure  that  all  the  proper  materials  have  been  used. 

What  should  he  do?    Why? 

17.  If  a  foreman  gets  this  order:  *'  It  is  specifically  for- 
bidden to  converse  with  the  operators  of  the  freight  elevators 
while  said  elevators  are  in  operation."  A  number  of  his  men 
are  foreign-speaking  people,  but  aU.  can  speak  fair  English. 

He  posts  this  notice  in  each  elevator  and  thinks  "I've 
done  my  duty.'* 

a.  Has  he? 

b.  Why  not? 

c.  What  should  he  do?    Why? 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  OF  INFORMATION 


225 


18.  Orders  are  sent  out  to  all  foremen  to  see  that  all 
the  men  in  their  departments,  making  white  lead  by  the 
Dutch  process,  wear  masks  while  breaking  down  the  pots. 
He  posts  this  order. 

a.  Has  he  discharged  his  responsibility? 

b.  If  so,  why? 

c.  If  not,  why? 

d.  If  not,  what  should  he  do? 

19.  In  how  many  different  ways  can  a  foreman  fall 
down  in  taking  orders? 

20.  Is  a  foreman  responsible  for  carrying  out  orders 
as  he  gets  them  or  is  he  responsible  for  carrying  them  out 
as  intended? 

21.  If  the  order  is  clear  to  him  but  has  to  be  passed 
along  to  his  men  what  is  his  duty? 

22.  If  the  order  is  not  clear  to  him  what  is  his  duty? 

23.  Should  the  principle  followed  be  to  "Obey  orders  and 
break  owners,'*  or  to  know  the  purpose  for  which  an  order 
is  given  and  make  sure  that  the  order  is  so  carried  out  that 
the  desired  result  is  obtained? 

24.  What  are  some  cost  elements  on  carrying  out  orders 
that  are  not  clear?  / 

25.  What  are  the  cost  elements  on  orders  that  have  to 
be  transmitted  to  the  men,  that  are  clear  to  the  foreman, 
but  as  he  gets  them,  would  not  be  clear  to  the  men? 

26.  In  transmitting  orders  has  a  foreman  a  duty  to 
see  that  the  men  get  the  order  as  given  so  that  they  under- 
stand the  order  so  that  they  will  carry  it  out  correctly? 

27.  What  is  the  difference  between  an  order  and 
a  direction? 

28.  Does  a  foreman  lose  any  hold  over  his  men  by  direct- 
ing instead  of  ordering?    Why? 

29.  In  a  machine  shop  an  order  came  in  for  making  a 
tapered  arbor  6  inches  long  and  Yq  inch  in  diameter.     The 


foreman   is    quite    sure   that    this    should   be    lYg,     What 
should  he  do ;  go  ahead  or  back  check?    Why? 

SO.  The  foreman  in  a  print  shop  got  an  order  that 
called  for  printing  a  set  of  circulars  advertising  the  opening 
of  a  millinery  sale  on  common  book  stock  which  would  be 
contrary  to  all  good  practice  in  the  trade.  He  knows  that 
the  job  should  go  in  a  good  quality  of  calendered  paper.  It 
is  a  hurry-up  job.  The  man  who  knows  about  the  original 
order  cannot  be  reached.    What  should  that  foreman  do? 

31.  The  case  of  giving  only  necessary  orders  and  direc- 
tions. The  foreman  in  a  pattern  shop  gets  an  order  for  a 
standard  pattern  and  gives  that  job  to  a  competent  man. 
He  spends  ten  minutes  telling  that  man  just  how  that  pat- 
tern should  be  got  out.  Is  this  good  or  poor  foremanship 
from  the  cost  standpoint?    Why? 

32.  An  order  for  a  job  that  is  different  comes  into  a 
machine  shop  and  the  superintendent  talks  the  matter  over 
with  the  foreman.  They  agree  that  the  job  shall  be  done 
in  a  certain  way  with  certain  machines.  Is  there  any  cost 
increasing  element  in  going  at  the  matter  this  way? 
What  is  it? 

83.  What  are  the  advantages  of  spoken  orders  and 
directions?    When  can  they  be  safely  used? 

34.  What  are  the  advantages  of  written  orders?  When 
should  they  be  used? 

35.  When  would  a  foreman  be  justified  in  asking  for 
written  orders  when  he  had  received  spoken  orders? 

36.  What  would  be  a  good  rule  for  determining  how 
far  orders  as  given  must  be  detailed? 

87.  What  is  a  foreman's  managerial  problem  on  the  giv- 
ing of  orders? 

88.  Provided  the  matter  is  fully  understood,  which  is 
the  better,  a  short  order  or  a  long  order?    Why? 

39.  What  is  the  danger  in  talking  too  much  in  giv- 
ing orders? 

U 


226 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


is     meant    by    getting    an     order     clearly 


40.  What 
understood? 

41.  What  may  be  the  cause  of  an  order  not  being 
clearly  understood? 

42.  How  may  a  foreman  know  that  an  order  has  been 
clearly  understood? 

43.  What  is  the  danger  here? 

44.  What  are  the  responsibilities  of  a  foreman  when  he 
gets  orders  from  above  that  are  to  be  passed  along  to  the 
members  of  his  operating  force? 


,1 


PART  VI 


THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  HUMAN  FACTOE 
BLOCK  INTO  SPECIFIC  AND  DE- 
TAILED RESPONSIBILITIES 


I 


CHAPTER  XV 

SPECIFIC  AND  DETAILED  RESPONSIBILITIES  AS 
TO  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  MEM- 
BERS OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE 


SECTION  I.   PEELIMINAEY 

Preliminary. — ^It  has  been  pointed  out  that  a  foreman's 
job  includes  a  general  responsibility  for  the  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  departmental  working  force.  This 
section  considers  some  of  the  specific  and  detailed  responsi- 
bilities that  may  be  included  in  that  general  responsibility. 
Among  the  more  probable  of  these  detailed  responsibilities, 
as  given  on  the  chart,  are : 

1.  Responsibilities  for  preventing  actual  physical  in- 
jury to  the  members  of  the  working  force,  commonly 
known  as  "safety." 

2.  Responsibilities  in  connection  with  illness  or  sickness 
among  the  members  of  the  working  force. 

3.  Responsibilities  as  to  the  general  physical  condition 
of  the  members  of  the  working  force. 

4.  Responsibilities  as  to  the  general  working  conditions 
so  far  as  they  affect  the  physical  condition  of  the  members 
of  the  working  force. 

As  in  all  other  cases,  it  should  be  understood  that  the 
specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  taken  up  here  are  only 
some  of  those  that  may  come  into  the  foreman's  job  and  that 
some  of  those  given  may  not  come  into  the  job  of  a  given  fore- 
man. Each  man  must,  of  course,  work  out  his  own  responsi- 
bilities according  to  the  requirements  of  his  own  par^ 
ticular  job. 

289 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

SOME   POSSIBLE  SPECIFIC   AND   DETAILED   RESPON- 

SIBILITIES  IN  THE  GENERAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

FOR  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE 

WORKING  FORCE 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 


231 


Detailed 


Specific 


Actual       Physical  (  Injuries  to  the  worker 
Injury:  Safety     \  Injuries  to  others 


Illness 


The  Physical  Con- 
dition of  the 
Working  Force 


General      Physical 
Conditions  ^ 


Working  Condi- 
tions as  to 


Temporary  illness 
Incipient  disease 
Acute  illness 
Chronic  illness 
Infectious  disease 
Contagious  disease 


■  Physical   handicap    (V.    R., 
L  R.) 

Fatigue 

Susceptibility  to  injury  on 
account  of  special  weak- 
ness 

Concentrated  attention 

Over  speeding 

Personal  habits  outside  the 
plant  that  interfere  with 
work  on  the  job 

General  outside  conditions 

General  health 
,  Retraining  cases 


Air 
Light 

Occupational  dangers 
Special  job  dangers 
,  General  surroundings 


SECTION  n.    PHYSICAI.  INJURY ^ACCIDENTS 

Safety.— This  possible  general  responsibility  is  so  gen- 
erally accepted  by  foremen,  and  they  give  so  much  attention 
to  it  that  it  needs  but  little  further  consideration.  As  given 
on  the  chart,  some  of  the  possible  detailed  responsibilities 
that  may  come  in  are: 

1.  Injuries  to  the  worker,  and 

2.  Injuries  to  others. 


Among  the  supervisory  responsibilities  in  connection  with 
safety  might  be  sugges1;ed  for  consideration: 

1.  Knowing  where  the  danger  points  are, 

2.  Seeing  that  accidents  do  not  occur  at  those  points. 

3.  Knowing  danger  points  for  others. 

4.  Seeing  that  "the  innocent  bystander"  is  protected. 

5.  In  case  of  accident  seeing  that  the  results  are  as  little 
serious  as  possible. 

Injury  to  the  Worker.— This  is  the  more  common 
form  in  which  this  responsibility  comes  in  as  a  part  of  the 
foreman's  job. 

Injury  to  Others. — ^This  detailed  responsibility  is  not 
so  commonly  thought  of,  but  there  are  a  number  of  circum- 
stances where  the  "innocent  bystander"  is  the  only  one  who 
must  be  looked  out  for,  or  where  he  needs  protection  as  much 
as  the  worker.  A  good  example  of  such  a  case  would  be 
where  there  was  a  case  of  "shooting  the  tool"  in  operating 
a  riveting  "gun."  If  the  trigger  is  pulled  when  the  tool  is 
not  held  against  something,  the  tool  will  be  "shot"  with  great 
force.  In  this  case  the  operator  is  in  no  danger  at  all,  and 
if  anybody  is  hurt  it  will  be  somebody  else.  Injuries  of  the 
same  kind  have  happened  in  handling  heavy  material  with 
cranes,  and  they  might  happen  with  the  "snap  back"  on  a 
buzz  saw  in  a  wood  mill. 

Both  detailed  responsibilities,  of  course,  belong  in  the 
responsibility  lay-out  where  there  is  any  possibility  of  either 
form  of  accident  happening  in  the  department. 

SECTION  m.  ILLNESS  AND  DISEASE 

Ulness  and  Disease. — Since  the  members  of  the  working 
force  are  human  beings,  they  are  liable  to  be  attacked  at  any 
time  by  temporary  illness  or  to  suffer  from  some  form  of 
chronic  disease.  The  question  of  the  specific  and  detailed 
responsibilities  of  a  foreman  in  connection  with  such  illness 
or  disease  usually  call  for  considerable  discussion  and 
thought.  As  already  stated,  the  question  of  safety  has  been 
so  thoroughly  worked  up  in  most  plants  that  all  foremen  are 


fflKf 


\  » 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

thoroughly  alive  in  the  matter,  and  it  is  not  so  much  a  case 
of  accepting  safety  responsibilities  as  of  devising  ways  and 
means  to  promote  it  and  so  cut  accidents  down  to  a  minimum. 

As  a  general  thing,  however,  the  question  of  a  foreman's 
responsibilities  as  to  illness  and  disease  have  not  been  as  thor- 
oughly taken  up  and  worked  out  in  most  plants  for  a  number 
of  reasons  and  so  a  foreman  is  usually  not  so  clear  as  to  his 
responsibilities  along  these  lines  as  he  is  with  regard  to  safety 
work  and  accident  prevention. 

A  part  of  this  uncertainty  comes  out  of  the  fact  that 
illness  has,  until  quite  recently,  been  largely  considered  as 
a  man's  private  affair  not  only  by  the  plant  but  by  the  man 
himself,  and  this  has  been  especially  true  of  chronic  and 
contagious  diseases,  and  a  foreman  has  felt  a  natural  reluct- 
ance to  assume  any  responsibilities  in  connection  with  them 
on  that  account. 

A  second  reason  has  been  that  it  is  only  recently  that 
matters  of  illness  and  disease  have  been  carefully  studied 
from  the  standpoint  of  their  cost  effects,  and  it  has  been 
shown  that,  at  least  in  many  cases,  responsibilities  assumed  by 
somebody  in  the  organization  for  taking  some  action  is,  as  a 
managerial  proposition,  good  business. 

A  third  reason  for  doubt  on  the  part  of  many  foremen  as 
to  their  having  specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  in  con- 
nection with  illness  and  disease,  except  possibly  in  cases  of 
acute  illness,  has  been  that  they  have  felt  that  any  responsi- 
bilities along  these  lines  were  up  to  some  other  plant  agency, 
a  medical  department  or  a  welfare  department,  because  they 
have  thought  of  the  matter  from  the  medical  side  only,  and, 
since  they  were  not  doctors,  have  felt  that  they  could  do 
nothing  in  the  matter  even  if  they  wanted  to. 

Since,  according  to  the  newer  view  of  these  matters,  a 
worker  who  is  ill  or  is  suffering  from  some  disease  is,  on  the 
one  hand,  unable  to  do  first  class  work,  and,  on  the  other,  if 
he  knows  his  job,  is  too  good  a  man  to  lose,  if  that  loss  can 
be  prevented,  a  foreman,  as  a  'Tcey  man,"  must  assume  and 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 


28S 


discharge  a  number  of  responsibilities  which,  under  the  older 
ideas  would  not  have  been  considered  as  a  part  of  his  job, 
and  this  section  undertakes  to  suggest  some  of  these  possible 
responsibilities  for  consideration  and  discussion. 

Some  Specific  Possible  Responsibilities. — ^Among  these 
possible  specific  responsibilities  might  be : 

1.  Responsibilities  as  to  temporary  illness. 

2.  Responsibilities  as  to  chronic  disease. 

3.  Responsibilities  as  to  infectious  or  contagious  disease. 

4.  Responsibilities  as  to  physical  handicap. 

Each  of  these  includes  a  number  of  detailed  responsi- 
bilities, some  of  which  are  suggested,  and  these  supervisory 
specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  in  turn  set  up  corre- 
sponding managerial  problems  dealing  with  cost  elements  and 
ways  and  means,  which  are  taken  up  in  the  chapter  following. 

A.  TEMPORAEY  OE  ACUTE  ILLNESS 

Temporary  Illness. — ^This  might  mean,  for  example,  a 
case  where  a  man  was  coming  down  with  an  attack  of  the 
grippe  and  was  trying  to  keep  on  working  when  he  was  in  no 
shape  to  work,  or  where  a  man  was  suffering  from  a  bad  cold 
and  headache,  or  from  some  other  form  of  illness  not  re- 
garded as  serious  but  which  tends  to  prevent  his  doing 
first  class  work.  Under  many  of  these  conditions  a  man  will 
stick  to  his  job,  when  the  best  thing  for  him  and  for  the 
plant  is  for  him  to  go  home  and  get  straightened  out.  A 
number  of  possible  responsibilities  will  suggest  themselves  in 
this  connection  which  each  foreman  may  decide  do,  or  do  not, 
form  a  part  of  his  job.    Among  these  might  be: 

1.  Knowing  that  the  worker  was  ill. 

2.  Taking  some  steps  to  see  that,  as  a  result  of  his  illness, 
there  was  no  drop  in  quality  or  quantity  of  production. 

3.  Taking  steps  to  see  that  accident  risk  was  not  in- 
creased under  these  conditions. 

This  amounts  to  saying  that,  when  a  man  is  ill,  it  is  up  to 
the  foreman  to  "spot  the  case"  as  a  supervisor  and  then,  as 
a  manager  to  see  that  cost  is  not  increased  as  a  result  of  that 


i 


#1 


THE   FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

case  of  temporary  illness.  The  managerial  side  of  this  ques- 
tion is  taken  up  in  the  next  chapter,  but  the  supervisory 
responsibility  for  "spotting"  such  cases  belongs  in  the 
foreman's  supervisory  lay-out. 

Incipient  Illness. — ^This  might  mean,  for  example,  a  case 
where  a  man  was  in  the  first  stages  of  "T.  B."  or  typhoid,  or 
some  other  disease  that,  if  unchecked  at  the  beginning,  was 
bound  to  get  worse  and  worse.  As  in  the  preceding  case,  a 
number  of  possible  responsibilities  may  come  up  under  this 
heading,  but  it  is  practically  certain  that  some  of  them  would 
come  into  the  job  of  any  foreman. 

Acute  Illness. — This  might  mean,  for  example,  a  case 
where  a  man  was  suddenly  attacked  with  sunstroke  or  acute 
indigestion  or  appendicitis,  where  the  attack  came  suddenly 
and  quick  action  was  needed.  In  such  cases  there  are  obvious 
responsibilities  on  the  foreman  and  no  further  discussion 
is  needed. 

Incipient  and  Acute  Illness. — ^As  a  supervisor,  a  foreman 
has  some  responsibilities  in  connection  with  incipient  or  acute 
illness  on  the  part  of  members  of  the  working  force.  Just 
what  they  would  be  depends  largely  on  the  special  circum- 
stances and  conditions,  but  it  is  evident  that  it  is  at  least  up 
to  the  foreman  to  "spot"  such  cases  as  well  as  a  man  without 
special  medical  knowledge  can  do  it,  and  to  do  something  to 
minimize  the  results.  As  in  the  case  just  taken  up,  what  he 
would  do  would  be  on  the  managerial  side  of  the  job,  but 
"keeping  an  eye  out"  for  such  cases  would  be  at  least  one 
part  of  his  supervisory  job,  because,  in  practically  all  cases 
of  incipient  temporary  illness  a  man  will  tend  to  try  and 
stay  on  the  job  when  many  times  he  is  a  danger  to  the  job. 
For  example,  a  locomotive  engineer  may  be  "able  to  go  on  the 
run"  when,  on  account  of  temporary  illness  he  has  no  business 
to  be  on  the  run,  and  his  superiors,  who  are  responsible  for 
the  safety  of  the  train  and  the  lives  of  the  passengers  have  no 
business  to  let  him  go  on  the  run.  That  is,  in  cases  of  tem- 
porary illness  that  do  not  actually  incapacitate  a  worker, 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 


2S5 


it  is  not  what  he  thinks  that  counts  but  what  the  foreman 
thinks,  as  the  man  responsible  for  getting  the  job  done.  If 
the  job  is  in  danger,  or  if  the  danger  to  the  man  himself  or 
to  others  is  increased  by  letting  a  man  who  says  that  he  is 
"all  right"  when  he  isn't  stay  on  the  job,  it  is  up  to  the  fore- 
man to  take  some  action. 

The  case  of  acute  illness  is  somewhat  different  because, 
if  the  attack  amounts  to  anything,  there  is  no  question  of 
staying  on  the  job.  The  responsibilities  here  would  come  out 
of  the  fact  that,  as  the  leader  of  the  team,  the  members  of  the 
team  naturally  look  to  the  foreman  to  take  the  initiative  and 
direct  whatever  can  be  done  to  relieve  the  sufferer.  This  re- 
sponsibility might  be,  for  example,  for  seeing  that  an  ambu-' 
lance  was  called,  where  a  plant  maintained  a  hospital.  It 
might  mean  a  responsibility  on  a  foreman  to  post  himself 
sufficiently  to  give  effective  first  aid,  as  in  the  case  of  sun- 
stroke, or  it  might  mean  a  responsibility  for  being  provided 
with  such  medical  supplies  as  could  be  used  by  a  man  who  was 
not  a  doctor,  as  was  often  the  case  in  ships,  where  the  captain 
had  the  responsibility  of  giving  such  medical  aid  as  was  pos- 
sible when  no  doctor  was  available. 

The  analysis  of  responsibilities  for  cases  of  acute  illness 
will,  therefore,  vary  so  much  according  to  the  character  of 
the  conditions,  the  organization  of  the  plant,  the  conditions 
under  which  the  work  is  carried  on  that  each  case  must  be 
worked  out  by  itself,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that,  on  studying 
the  situation,  practically  all  foremen  will  agree  that  they 
have  supervisory  responsibilities  of  some  kind  in  connection 
with  acute  illness. 

B.    CHRONIC    DISEASE 

Chronic  Disease. — ^This  case  offers  more  difficulties  be- 
cause the  s3rmptoms  can  often  be  noted  only  by  a  doctor. 
There  are,  however,  some  possible  detailed  responsibilities 
that  may  be  considered  in  this  connection.  Among  these 
might  be : 

1.  Responsibilities  in  connection  with  looking  out  for 
such  cases. 


\v\ 


IV 


m 


M 


if*!! 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

2.  Responsibilities  for  seeing  that  such  cases  receive 
proper  medical  attention. 

These  responsibilities  would  again  come  out  of  the  fact 
that  a  foreman  has  the  general  responsibility  of  looking  out 
for  his  men  and,  on  account  of  his  position  can  be  reasonably 
expected  to  have  more  sense  and  intelligence  in  such  matters 
than  the  members  of  the  working  force  can  be  expected  to 
show.  For  example,  certain  types  of  workers  don't  know 
enough  to  know  when  they  are  suffering  from  the  earlier 
stages  of  some  chronic  disease  or  are  afraid  of  a  doctor.  In 
other  cases  they  are  exploited  by  quacks. 

Of  course,  each  foreman  piust  decide  for  himself  just  what 
his  supervisory  responsibilities  are,  according  to  the  particu- 
lar sort  of  workers  in  his  department,  the  plant  organization, 
etc.  In  general,  the  more  ignorant  the  workers  and  the  less 
provision  made  by  the  plant  along  medical  service  lines,  the 
more  it  is  up  to  the  foreman  to  assume  supervisory  responsi- 
bilities and  discharge  them  as  well  as  he  can.  Some  points  in 
this  connection  are  taken  up  in  the  next  chapter. 

Infectious  and  Contagious  Disease.— The  question  of  a 
foreman's  supervisory  responsibilities  for  contagious  or  in- 
fectious disease  is  one  that  requires  a  good  deal  of  considera- 
tion, especially  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  "social  diseases," 
tuberculosis  and  other  diseases  of  that  character  that  are  not 
always  regarded  as  serious  and  which  in  many  cases  people 
tend  to  conceal.  This  much  can  be  said.  Wherever  a  mem- 
ber of  the  team  is  a  menace  to  the  health  of  other  members 
of  the  team,  it  is  a  supervisory  responsibility  of  the  foreman 
to  "spot"  such  cases  so  far  as  he  can  and  take  some  action. 
He  must  protect  his  men.  That  is  a  part  of  his  job  as  a 
leader  of  the  team.  Just  what  should  be  the  action  taken  will, 
as  in  other  cases  discussed,  depend  largely  on  the  special  con- 
ditions, and  the  subject  will  not  be  developed  further  here  as 
a  supervisory  question,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  on  giving 
the  subject  careful  consideration  any  foreman  will  find  de- 
tailed responsibilities  that  should  go  into  his  lay-out  in  con- 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 


287 


nection  with  infectious  and  contagious  diseases  that  menace 
the  health  of  all  the  members  of  the  operating  force.  Some 
suggestions  from  the  managerial  standpoint  are,  however, 
made  in  the  following  chapter. 

SECTION  IV.  GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 

Physical  Condition. — ^As  suggested  on  the  chart  there  are 
a  number  of  possible  specific  responsibilities  that  may  come 
under  the  general  responsibility  for  the  general  physical  con- 
dition of  the  members  of  the  working  force,  including,  of 
course,  a  number  of  possibilities  that  are  not  mentioned. 
Those  given  on  the  chart  are : 

1.  Overfatigue. 

2.  Susceptibility  to  special  injury  due  to  some  special 
weakness. 

8.  Jobs  requiring  especially  concentrated  attention  on 
the  part  of  the  worker  and  so  causing  mental  overstrain. 

4.  Cases  of  overspeeding. 

5.  Personal  habits  on  the  part  of  a  member  of  the  work- 
ing force  that  interfere  with  doing  his  work  properly. 

6.  Physical  handicap. 

These  specific  possible  responsibilities  are  discussed  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

Overfatigue. — ^Under  some  conditions  it  may  be  a  part  of 
the  duties  of  a  foreman  to  assume  responsibilities  for  watch- 
ing out  for  cases  of  overfatigue  on  account  of  the  resulting 
danger  for  accidents,  slow  production  or  for  some  other 
reason.  Where  the  conditions  are  such,  as  in  the  case  of  most 
foremen  in  charge  of  production  departments,  where  this 
responsibility  comes  into  the  job,  it  should  be  included  in 
the  lay-out. 

Susceptibility  to  Special  Injury.— As  discussed  later,  this 
specific  responsibility  comes  into  the  foreman's  job  whenever 
he  has  any  responsibilities  as  to  the  assigning  of  workers 
to  jobs. 

An  example  of  such  a  case  would  be  where  a  man  was 
suffering  from  a  rupture  or  where  he  had  an  artificial  limb. 


T\ 


238 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBttlTIES 


239 


H' 


In  such  cases  the  foreman's  responsibility  would  center 
around  seeing  that  the  working  conditions  for  that  man  on 
whatever  job  he  was  assigned  to  would  not  expose  him  to 
special  dangers  of  injury.  Because  of  the  number  of  injured 
men  now  being  employed  on  account  of  the  war  and  the 
"  cripples  in  industry  "  legislation,  responsibilities  of  this 
nature  are  likely  to  be  given  more  attention  in  the  future 
than  they  have  been  given  in  the  past. 

Concentrated  Attention. — ^As  is  well  known,  some  jobs 
require  concentrated  attention,  as  in  the  case  of  train  dis- 
patchers or  telephone  switchboard  operators  during  rush 
hours.  Under  some  conditions,  it  may  become  a  part  of  the 
duty  of  the  foreman  to  see  that  concentration  is  not  carried 
so  long  that  it  breaks  down  with  the  accompanying  danger 
of  resulting  trouble.  Of  course,  only  where  such  "concen- 
tration" jobs  come  under  the  foreman's  supervision  would 
this  specific  responsibility  come  into  the  lay-out  of  any  one 
foreman's  job. 

Overspeeding. — In  some  cases,  especially  where  operators 
are  on  piecework,  some  of  them  are  likely  to  overspeed  with 
the  accompanying  dangers  of  spoiled  work  and  damage  to 
machines.  Under  these  conditions,  a  foreman  may  have  spe- 
cific responsibilities  under  this  heading.  These  conditions 
can,  of  course,  only  come  about  when  operators  can  control 
the  speed  of  their  machines. 

Personal  Habits. — ^An  example  of  a  case  where  a  foreman 
might  have  responsibilities  under  this  heading  would  be  where 
a  man  was  in  the  habit  of  sitting  up  nearly  all  night  playing 
cards  and  so  was  in  no  shape  to  work  the  next  day,  or  where 
in  some  other  way  he  did  things  in  his  own  time  that  pre- 
vented him  from  doing  a  good  job  in  the  plant  time.  A  num- 
ber of  possible  responsibilities  will  suggest  themselves  under 
this  heading  that  can  be  worked  out  and  included  in  the 
specific  responsibility  lay-out  for  any  given  foreman,  accord- 
ing to  the  special  conditions. 

General  Outside  Conditions. — This  term  refers  to  the 


possibility  that  a  worker  may  be  living  under  such  poor 
conditions  that  his  value  to  the  job  is  seriously  impaired  or 
he  is  in  some  way  a  menace  to  the  rest  of  the  team.  For 
example,  suppose  that  he  has  a  case  of  smallpox  in  his  home 
and,  as  is  often  the  case,  especially  with  some  nationalities, 
will  not  observe  quarantine  regulations,  and  so  is  liable  to 
bring  the  disease  into  the  plant,  although  he  has  not  got  it 
himself.  Has  a  foreman  any  responsibilities  here,  and  if 
so,  what  are  they?  Again  this  question  must  be  worked  out 
according  to  the  special  conditions,  but  evidently  he  has  some 
responsibilities  because,  as  the  team  leader,  it  is  up  to  him  to 
protect  his  men. 

It  is,  therefore,  quite  certain  that  on  studying  and  dis- 
cussing the  matter  all  foremen  will  decide  that  they  have 
supervisory  responsibilities  in  connection  with  outside  con- 
ditions. Just  what  they  would  be  must  be  left  to  each  indi- 
vidual foreman  to  decide,  but  the  point  already  brought  up 
before  comes  up  here  again  as  to  how  far  such  matters  are 
the  private  affairs  of  the  man  and  how  far  they  affect  the 
well-being  of  the  other  members  of  the  team  and  the  general 
effectiveness  of  the  plant,  as  well  as  of  the  department. 

Ph3^ical  Handicap. — The  retraining  program  of  the 
Federal  Government  for  disabled  ex-soldiers,  sailors  and  ma- 
rines has  placed  many  ex-service  men  in  plants  for  training 
to  enable  them  to  "get  back"  to  a  good  earning  power  in  spite 
of  some  handicap  incurred  in  the  service.  Any  foreman  is 
likely  to  have  such  men  in  his  operating  force. 

It  is  also  true  that  the  Federal  Government  and  the  dif- 
ferent states  have  recently  united  on  what  is  called  Industrial 
Rehabilitation  work,  or,  for  short,  "I.  R.  work".  The  purpose 
of  this  legislation  is  to  take  care  of  people  who  may  be  dis- 
abled in  some  way  so  that  they  cannot  continue  to  carry  on 
their  old  jobs  at  all,  or  cannot  carry  them  on  as  well  as  they 
could,  by  training  them  so  that  they  can  do  good  work  on 
their  old  jobs  in  spite  of  their  handicap,  or  to  train  them  for 
some  other  job  where  the  handicap  will  not  interfere. 


\\ 


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240 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


Since  most  of  this  retraining  will  be  done  in  plants,  and 
in  many  cases  with  employees  who  incurred  the  handicap  or 
the  disability  in  the  plant,  any  foreman  is  likely  to  have 
such  men  and  women  in  his  department,  and,  where  this  is 
the  case  they  will  have  certain  supervisory  responsibilities 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  ex-service  men.* 

These  responsibilities  will  probably  be  mostly  along  in- 
structing lines  and  so  would  not  differ  from  instructing  re- 
sponsibilities as  given  in  later  chapters,  but,  in  addition, 
there  may  be  set  up  certain  supervisory  responsibilities  in 
connection  with  V.  R.  and  I.  R.  members  of  the  operating 
force  that  a  foreman  would  want  to  include  in  his  lay-out. 
These  would  be  mainly  as  follows: 

1.  Seeing  to  it  that  the  V.  R.  or  I.  R.  individual  was 
trained  according  to  the  understanding  with  the  State  Office 
and  the  Management. 

2.  Notifying  the  Management  when  the  training  was 
completed. 

3.  Seeing  to  it  that  the  person  under  training  got  a  fair 
show  while  in  training. 

SECTION  V.  WORKING  CONDITIONS 

Working  Conditions. — Since  the  ability  of  people  to  do 
good  work  is  affected  by  the  conditions  under  which  they  work 
some  responsibilities  in  this  connection  may  come  into  the 
foreman's  job.  Some  of  the  more  probable  are  indicated  in 
the  chart  as  follows : 

1.  Responsibilities  as  to  air,  ventillation,  etc. 

2.  Responsibilities  as  to  illumination.     (Lighting.) 

3.  Responsibilities  as  to  occupational  dangers. 

4.  Responsibilities  as  to  general  surroundings. 

•Space  will  not  allow  any  extended  description  of  the  work  for 
training  men  and  women  who  have  incurred  disabilities  in  the  service 
that  is,  the  Vocational  Rehabilitation  Program  of  the  Government  (V.  R. 
Work  for  short)  or  for  the  I.  R.  work.  Foremen  who  are  interested  in 
this  matter  will  find  full  information  in  bulletins  published  by  the  Federal 
Board  for  Vocational  Education,  Washington,  and  in  other  bulletins 
published  by  the  different  State  OflBces  that  have  charge  of  the  I.  R. 
work  in  the  different  States  that  have  undertaken  to  handle  it. 


PHYSICAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 


£41 


These  possible  specific  responsibilities  are  taken  up  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

Air. — Since  poor  air  affects  the  working  ability  of  men 
working  under  cover,  responsibilities  for  seeing  that  the  con- 
ditions as  to  ventilation  are  made  as  good  as  possible  may 
come  into  the  foreman's  job  either  by  direct  action,  recom- 
mendation or  suggestion.  Of  course,  plants  vary  so  much 
in  this  respect  that  attention  can  only  be  drawn  to  this  pos- 
sible specific  responsibility  and  to  the  fact  that,  in  many 
cases,  it  may  be  a  part  of  the  foreman's  job  to  assume  and 
discharge  certain  responsibilities  in  this  connection. 

Illumination — Light. — The  same  statements  can  be  made 
as  to  light  as  were  just  made  to  air.  The  special  conditions 
would  determine  the  particular  responsibilities  in  the  case  of 
any  given  foreman. 

Occupational  Dangers. — There  are  certain  occupations 
that  carry  with  them  definite  dangers  to  the  workers,  such 
as  making  black  powder  or  in  working  in  quicksilver  mines. 
These  occupational  dangers  go  with  the  job:  they  cannot  be 
entirely  avoided,  but  they  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  by 
taking  certain  precautions.  Where  such  occupational  dan- 
gers exist  in  the  work  of  a  department  it  is  one  of  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  foreman  to  see  that  all  possible  precautions 
are  provided  and  used.  The  particular  nature  of  these  re- 
sponsibilities would,  of  course,  depend  on  the  special  occu- 
pational dangers,  and  would  have  to  be  worked  out  by  each 
foreman,  but  they  would  be  there  and  should  be  included  in 
the  lay-out  of  the  job. 

In  this  connection  care  should  be  taken  to  distinguish 
between  occupational  dangers  and  possibility  of  accidents. 
An  accident  always  means  a  slip:  at  least  in  theory  it  need 
not  happen  at  all.  An  occupational  danger  goes  with  the 
job:  it  cannot  be  avoided,  but  it  can  be  minimized. 

Special  Job  Dangers. — The  same  statements  will  apply  to 
the  case  of  some  jobs  that  carry  "job"  dangers  where  the 
occupation,  as  a  whole,  carries  no  special  danger,  but  certain 

16 


1 


I 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


jobs  in  that  occupation  do  carry  special  danger.  An  example 
of  such  a  case  in  the  shipwright's  trade  would  be  knocking 
out  the  keel  blocks  in  launching  a  ship. 

General  Surroundings. — ^Under  some  conditions  the  gen- 
eral surroundings  may  have  an  effect  on  the  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  working  force,  where  there  is  no  special  occupa- 
tional danger  and  outside  of  the  working  conditions.  This 
might  be  true,  for  example,  where  the  building  was  not  safe 
or  where  the  sanitary  conditions  were  so  bad  that  there  was 
danger  of  communication  of  disease  or  the  starting  of  an 
epidemic,  as  during  the  **flu"  a  few  years  ago,  masks  were 
required  in  many  plants.  Supervisory  responsibilities  along 
these  lines  might  be,  in  part : 

1.  Seeing  that  any  special  precautions  were  observed. 

2.  Improving  conditions  either  by  action,  recommenda- 
tion or  suggestion  to  superiors. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 
ON  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE 

WORKING  FORCE 

SECTION   I.    PEELIMINARY 

Preliminary.— Chapter  XV  discussed  some  possible 
supervisory  responsibilities  that  might  come  into  the  fore- 
man's job  from  the  standpoint  of  *'  the  human  factors," 
that  is,  those  things  that  count  in  affecting  the  physical  con- 
dition and  mental  attitude  of  the  members  of  the  working 
force.  As  pointed  out  there,  these  human  factors  lie  outside 
of  the  questions  of  the  M,  T,  I  values  and  the  general  job 
qualifications  and  are  concerned  entirely  with  those  elements 
that  come  out  of  the  fact  that  workers  are  not  merely  **car- 
riers"  of  certain  knowledge,  skill,  strength,  etc.,  but  are 
human  beings  with  bodies  that  can  be  injured,  impaired  by 
illness,  that  are  affected  by  the  conditions  under  which  they 
work,  and  who  possess  minds  that  think. 

For  example,  a  worker  might  possess  all  necessary  knowl- 
edge, skill  and  so  on  required  to  put  a  job  across  in  first  class 
shape,  yet,  if  he  were  sick,  he  could  not  use  that  skill  and 
knowledge  as  effectively  as  if  he  were  well ;  if  his  mental  atti- 
tude is  such  that  he  does  not  care  whether  he  does  the  job 
well  or  badly,  or  dislikes  the  job,  or  is  dissatisfied,  or  does 
not  want  to  work  at  all,  the  quality  or  quantity  of  his  work 
will  be  affected  and  so  his  physical  condition  or  his  mental 
attitude  will  become  a  very  important  cost  element. 

This  chapter  takes  up  some  of  the  managerial  problems 
and  cost  elements  that  come  out  of  a  foreman's  responsi- 
bilities, in  connection  with  the  physical  condition  of  the 
working  force.  The  following  chapter  discusses  the  corre- 
sponding questions  that  come  out  of  the  corresponding 
responsibilities  as  to  mental  attitude. 

243 


l| 


IP' 


A'y 


'Pff 


fiM 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


The  Two  General  Human  Factor  Elements.— It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  all  production  costs  finally  **head  up"  into 
material-time-power-labor  cost,  although  the  specific  cost 
elements  might  vary  widely,  so,  in  the  case  of  the  human  fac- 
tors, the  different  cost  elements  all  "head  up"  into  two. 

1.  Physical  condition. 

2.  Mental  attitude,  or,  as  it  is  often  called,  morale. 
Cost  Elements. — The  two  cost  elements,  in  general,  are: 

1.  The  degree  to  which  any  member  of  the  working  force 
is,  or  is  not,  in  good  physical  condition,  including  sickness 
or  injury. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  the  mental  attitude  of  all  mem- 
bers of  the  force  is,  or  is  not,  good. 

The  General  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  general  man- 
agerial problem  for  any  foreman  is  to  promote,  by  all  means 
in  his  power,  within  the  limits  of  his  responsibilities,  the  de- 
velopment and  maintenance  of  good  morale  and  to  protect 
the  working  force  from  injury  and  poor  physical  condition. 

In  the  following  chapters  it  is  assumed  that  all  foremen 
include  these  responsibilities  in  their  jobs,  which  is  a  fact,  and 
that  they  are  always  anxious  to  discharge  these  responsibil- 
ities as  fully  as  they  can,  which  is  also  a  fact.  The  following 
paragraphs  are  therefore  only  intended  to  suggest  points 
which  may  be  profitably  discussed  in  conferences  and  which, 
it  is  hoped,  may  be  of  suggestive  value. 

The  Importance  of  the  Physical  Condition  of  the  Work- 
ing Force. — Some  of  the  most  important  managerial  prob- 
lems that  may  confront  a  foreman  on  the  human  factor  side 
of  his  managerial  work  are  those  connected  with  the  physical 
condition  of  the  members  of  the  working  force.  He  may  have 
to  deal  with  these  problems  both  directly  or  by  cooperating 
with  other  departments,  such  as  the  safety  department  or  the 
medical  service,  but  even  where  such  departments  are  a  part 
of  the  organization  there  are  many  cases  where  the  degree  to 
which  a  foreman  senses  his  responsibilities  in  this  connection 
and  discharges  them  intelligently  makes  a  great  difference 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


245 


9> 


» 


in  the-  final  production  cost.  It  is  only  in  recent  years  that 
the  importance  of  this  matter  has  come  to  be  appreciated  and 
to  begin  to  receive  serious  attention  and  the  cost  elements 
connected  with  it  to  be  studied  out  carefully.  What  may  be 
called  the  ''old  hiethod"  of  dealing  managerially  with  matters 
of  physical  condition  was  to  employ  a  man  and  then  hold  that 
his  physical  condition  Was  "nobody's  business  but  his  own. 
If  he  became  ill  or  run  down,  he  was  either  fired  or  "carried, 
according  to  the  sympathy  of  the  foreman  or  of  the  employer 
or  the  diflSculty  in  filling  his  place.  If  he  had  to  quit  on 
account  of  sickness  and  was  a  "good  man"  or  an  old  employee 
the  matter  was  simply  treated  as  a  piece  of  "hard  luck  all 
around"  but  something  about  which  nothing  could  have  been 
done.  The  man  lost  his  job:  the  concern  lost  a  good  man, 
but  nobody  thought  of  handling  the  matter  any  other  way. 

Sometimes  a  sort  of  attempt  was  made  to  hold  an  extra 
good  man  by  holding  his  job  open  for  him  while  he  got  well  or 
during  acute  sickness,  but  this  was  about  as  far  as  anybody 
got  in  those  days. 

The  newer  ideas  that  are  now  coming  into  practice  are 
based  upon  a  totally  different  way  of  looking  at  the  matter 
of  the  effect  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  members  of  the 
working  force  on  the  welfare  of  the  employing  concern  and 
are  based  upon  the  notion  that  something  can  be  done  and 
should  be  done  to  reduce  the  cost  elements  that  were  dis- 
regarded under  the  older  methods  of  handling  such  cases.  It 
is  now  held,  at  least  in  many  of  the  more  progressive  con- 
cerns, that  it  is  up  to  anyone  having  any  say  in  the  matter 
to  "get  busy"  and  see  what  they  can  do  to  reduce  these  cost 
elements  to  a  minimum.  Since  a  foreman,  by  virtue  of  his 
position,  can  do  some  of  these  things  better  than  anybody 
else,  it  is  a  part  of  his  job  to  do  them:  that  is,  he  has  super- 
visory  responsibilities  as  to  tlie  physical  condition  of  the 
members  of  his  own  departmental  force  and  therefore  has 
corresponding  managerial  problems  to  reduce  the  cost  elC" 
ments  due  to  this  catise  to  a  mimmum. 


iHj 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  more  important  cost  ele* 
ments  are : 

1.  Decreased  quantity  of  production. 

2.  Decreased  quality  of  production. 

3.  Increased  danger  of  accidents  to  the  worker  himself. 

4.  Increased  danger  of  injury  to  others. 

5.  Temporary  labor  loss  due  to  accidents. 

6.  Permanent  labor  loss  due  to  accidents. 

7.  Increased  damage  to  tools  and  equipment. 

All  these  things  and  a  number  of  others  mean  increased 
or  decreased  cost,  according  to  the  way  they  are  managed 
and  the  foreman's  managerial  problem,  as  already  stated  in 
general  terms  is  to  reduce  them  to  a  minimum. 

The  Foreman's  Responsibility  for  Himself. — In  the  fol- 
lowing discussions  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  here  that  they 
refer  as  much  to  the  foreman  himself  as  to  the  members  of 
the  working  force.  If  a  sick  worker  cannot  do  a  good  job 
neither  can  a  sick  foreman  do  a  good  job.  If  a  worker  is 
injured,  and  so  loses  time,  the  same  is  true  of  a  foreman  who 
is  forced  to  lay  off  on  account  of  an  injury.  While  the 
discussions  are  carried  on  in  terms  of  the  working  force,  they 
all  apply  equally  well  to  the  foreman  and,  in  many  cases 
apply  even  more  strongly,  because,  as  pointed  out  earlier,  the 
foreman  is  a  key  man  and  any  drop  in  his  ability  to  do  his 
job  aflPects  the  whole  plant. 

The  Detailed  Discussion. — On  account  of  their  import- 
ance, each  of  the  above  cost  elements  is  taken  up  separately 
in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Poor  Physical  Condition  and  Production. — ^As  gen- 
eral propositions  the  following  statements  are  worth 
consideration : 

1.  If  a  worker  is  sick  he  cannot  do  a  first  class  job. 

2.  If  a  worker  is  physically  "run  down,"  even  if  he  is  not 
actually  sick,  he  cannot  attend  to  his  job  in  first  class  shape. 

3.  Whether  sick  or  "in  bad  shape"  a  man  on  a  job  will 
not  only  work  to  poor  advantage  but  in  addition  is  likely  to 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


247 


make  more  "slips"  that  may  result  in  damage  to  tools  and 
equipment  or  injury  to  himself  or  to  others. 

4.  If  a  worker  becomes  afflicted  with  a  chronic  or  pro- 
gressive disease  (as  in  the  case  of  "T.  B.,"  for  example)  where 
he  will,  if  the  case  is  not  attended  to,  grow  gradually  worse, 
the  falling  off  in  his  working  ability  and  the  danger  of  "slip" 
will  go  on  steadily  increasing  until  something  happens:  the 
man  is  discharged,  goes  home  sick  at  increasing  intervals, 
"hangs  on"  until  he  ha»  to  quit  because  he  cannot  work  any 
longer  or  meets  with  an  accident  due  to  lack  of  care  or  other 
cause  due  to  his  condition. 

5.  If  a  worker  is  absent  on  account  of  illness  we  have 
absenteeism  (temporary  labor  loss),  or  if  he  is  lost  to  the 
plant  through  sickness  or  even  death,  we  have  permanent 
labor  loss  with  the  accompanying  replacement  cost  in 
either  case. 

These  facts  being  true,  it  is  evident  that  illness,  accident 
or  disease  affect  production  cost,  so,  from  the  managerial 
standpoint  of  management  become  very  important  matters 
for  the  foreman's  careful  consideration  and  study. 

Poor  Physical  Condition  and  Quality. — ^All  that  has  just 
been  said  will  apply  to  quality  of  production  as  well  as  to 
quantity,  and  so,  in  the  following  paragraphs  the  two  are 
discussed  together. 

Illness  and  Injury. — ^As  the  term  is  used  here,  poor  physi- 
cal condition  means»anything  that  prevents  a  man  from  being 
in  normal  or  first  class  shape  and  therefore  refers  both  to 
illness  or  injury. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  following  discussions  a  man  that 
has  lost  an  eye  or  a  leg  or  a  hand,  or  who  is  ruptured  is  just 
as  much  in  poor  physical  condition  as  one  that  is  suffering 
from  tuberculosis  or  a  bad  cold,  or  Bright's  disease  or  any 
other  form  of  illness. 

Since,  however,  the  questions  of  dealing  managerially  with 
illness,  whether  temporary,  that  is,  acute  illness,  or  perma- 
nent, that  is,  chronic  disease,  are  very  different  from  the  cor- 


ii  »• 


Ml 


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COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


249 


ii 


iH 


responding  problems  in  the  case  of  injury,  the  two  are  dis- 
cussed separately  in  this  chapter. 

SECTION   n.    COST   ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGERIAL    PROBLEMS    ON 
PHYSICAL  INJURY  TO  MEMBERS  OF  THE  WORKING 

FORCE SAFETY 

Preliminary. — This  section  presents  some  of  the  more 
important  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  that  may 
come  up  in  connection  with  dangers  of  physical  injury  to 
members  of  the  working  force  in  the  department,  and  deal,  in 
general,  with  the  corresponding  responsibilities  discussed 
in  Chapter  XV,  that  is,  what  is  commonly  referred  to 
as  "Safety." 

As  pointed  out  in  that  chapter,  even  if  there  is  some 
special  part  of  the  organization  that  is  particularly  charged 
with  the  responsibility  of  promoting  safety,  that  does  not 
"let  the  foreman  out"  so  far  as  doing  his  part  is  concerned, 
and,  in  many  cases,  he  is  the  only  person  who  can  put  over  the 
job  effectively :  nobody  else  can  do  it.  As  a  rule,  foreman  are 
keenly  interested  in  this  matter:  they  give  much  time  and 
thought  to  it,  and  in  the  following  paragraphs  no  attempt  is 
made  to  go  into  the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  safety 
engineering,  but  only  to  suggest  some  points  that  may  be 
worth  considering  in  discussion  or  conferences. 

The  Foreman  and  Injuries.— An  "accident"  means  in- 
jury or  death  to  another  human  being  and  in  thinking  about 
the  problems  of  accident  prevention,  of  course,  the  first 
thought  on  the  part  of  anyone  is  from  what  may  be  called 
the  "human"  side,  especially  if  they  are  in  a  position  of 
responsibility  with  regard  to  the  matter.  Any  foreman,  and 
anybody  else  in  the  plant  would  rather  see  any  amount  of 
production  loss  or  spend  any  amount  of  money  rather  than 
have  people  in  their  employ  seriously  injured  or  killed:  there 
is,  of  course,  no  question  as  to  that.  For  the  purposes  of 
discussion  here  it  has  seemed  better  to  disregard  the  **human" 
side  of  the  question,  not  because  it  is  not  the  important  side, 
but  because  one  goes  with  the  other,  so  that  the  improvement 


and  control  of  safety  conditions  is  not  only  good  "humanity" 
but  good  business  as  well  and  can,  perhaps,  be  better  dis- 
cussed and  thought  out  from  the  angle  of  cost  control,  al- 
though the  double  responsibility  is  always  there,  and  any 
foreman  would  do  as  much  to  prevent  accidents  if  there 
were  no  cost  involved  as  he  would  if  the  cost  were  tremendous. 
Cost  Elements  on  Safety. — ^While,  as  pointed  out,  the 
final  cost  of  poor  safety  conditions  comes  out  in  the  form  of 
temporary  or  permanent  labor  loss  there  are  a  number  of 
more  direct  cost  elements  that  may  be  considered,  among 
which  are: 

1.  Direct  compensation  cost. 

2.  Reputation  cost. 

3.  Fear  cost. 

4.  The  attitude  of  the  working  force. 

6.  The  attitude  of  the  foreman  himself. 
All  of  which  affect  the  cost  due  to  poor  working  conditions 
and  will  be  increased  or  decreased  in  proportion  as  their 
causes  are  reduced  or  removed  or  are  allowed  to  exist,  that  is, 
according  to  the  degree  to  which  safety  precautions  are 
actually  taken  and  are  effective  in  the  working  conditions  of 
the  department. 

Direct  Compensation  Cost. — ^By  this  is  meant  a  direct 
charge  against  operating  cost  for  damage  due  to  injury  in- 
curred while  working  in  the  plant.  The  general  tendency 
of  modem  legislation  has  been  to  establish  some  form  of  com- 
pensation at  the  expense  of  the  employing  concern  usually 
taking  the  form  of  what  is  often  known  as  a  "Workman's 
Compensation  Act."  At  present  some  such  form  of  legisla- 
tion has  been  enacted  and  is  in  force  in  some  thirty  states 
and  is  a  coming  thing,  that  seems  likely  to  extend  all  over  the 
country.  Where  such  a  law  is  in  force  it  is  evident  that 
the  cost  of  such  compensation  must  come  into  the  cost  of 
running  the  plant,  and  that  this  cost  will  be  greater  of  less 
according  to  the  frequency  and  seriousness  of  any  damage 
or  injury  that  may  occur.    The  fewer  the  accidents  and  the 


I 


i  » 


250 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


251 


iM 


11 


m 


1^ 


less  serious  they  are  when  they  do  happen,  the  less  the  cost ; 
the  more  accidents  and  the  more  serious  they  are,  the  greater 
the  cost. 

Reputation  Cost. — Another  way  in  which  occupational 
dangers  and  accidents  affect  cost  is  in  the  effect  of  the  repu- 
tation of  the  plant  upon  the  employment  of  men,  or  upon  the 
stability  of  the  working  force.  If  a  plant  has  a  reputation 
for  being  "safe,"  good  men  are  much  more  likely  to  seek  em- 
plo3nnent  and  to  remain  in  the  plant  than  in  the  case  of  a 
concern  with  a  reputation  of  being  "unsafe,"  or  where  it  is 
thought  that  there  is  no  particular  interest  shown  in  accident 
prevention.  This  particular  cost  element  is  often  not  taken 
sufficiently  into  consideration  by  foremen,  but  it  does  affect 
to  a  very  appreciable  extent  the  interest  and  the  satisfaction 
of  the  working  force  and,  therefore,  amounts  to  permanent 
labor  loss. 

Fear  Cost. — Still  another  cost  factor,  not  often  suffi- 
ciently taken  into  consideration,  is  the  effect  of  safe  or  unsafe 
working  conditions  on  the  mental  attitude  of  the  men.  When 
a  man  working  on  a  job  is  thinking  all  the  time  about  the 
chances  of  his  being  injured,  he  is  not  going  to  put  the  same 
amount  of  intelligence,  time  and  energy  on  the  job  as  he  would 
if  he  were  using  the  whole  of  his  mind  on  it.  This  effect  of 
safety  on  cost  has  often  been  given  too  little  consideration. 
This  point  is  of  great  importance  in  instructing  as  a  cost 
cutting  proposition. 

The  Attitude  of  the  Working  Force. — Probably  this  is 
one  of  the  most  serious  cost  elements  in  the  majority  of  plants 
and  one  that  is  the  most  difficult  to  deal  with. 

For  example,  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  many  workers 
will  not  protect  themselves  and  sometimes  seem  to  take  a  sort 
of  pride  in  not  taking  precautions.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  old  and  experienced  workmen  who  not  only  will  not  pro- 
tect themselves  but  will  tell  new  workers  that  "it's  all  fool- 
ishness anyway."  In  many  cases  the  worker  feels  that 
taking  precautions   will   interfere   with   doing   the  job   as 


quickly  as  he  wants  to  do  it,  as  in  the  case  of  the  use  of 
guards  on  a  number  of  wood  working  machines. 

Whatever  the  cause,  such  a  "state  of  mind"  increases 
cost,  because  it  makes  for  increased  accidents  and  so  must 
be  reckoned  with  as  a  cost  factor.  It  leads  to  "taking 
chances"  and,  in  many  cases,  to  apparent  carelessness  as 
discussed  in  the, chapter  on  that  subject,  and  so  sets  up  a 
managerial  problem  as  discussed  later  in  this  section. 

The  Attitude  of  the  Foreman.—The  attitude  of  the  fore- 
man with  regard  to  safety  is  as  important  as  that  of  the 
working  force,  and  it  is  not  so  much  what  he  says  as  what  he 
does  that  counts.  Under  the  pressure  of  getting  out  the 
work  a  good  many  foremen  who  think  right  will  neglect  the 
same  precautions  that  they  are  trying  to  get  the  men  to 
take  and  so,  often  quite  unconsciously,  will  make  matters 
worse,  because,  as  pointed  out  in  another  chapter,  a  foreman 
cannot  get  away  from  the  fact  that  he  is,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  the  leader,  and  men  look  to  him  "to  set  the  example." 
For  example,  suppose  that  work  is  carried  on  under  such 
conditions  that  a  respirator  should  be  worn  by  everybody 
in  the  room.  The  foreman  comes  in  for  just  a  few  moments 
and,  being  in  a  hurry,  thinks  "I'm  only  going  to  be  in  that 
room  for  a  minute  and  I  won't  be  hurt  in  that  time,  too  much 
bother  to  put  that  thing  on,"  and  so  does  not  put  "that 
thing  on."  So  far  as  he  is  concerned,  he  may  be  right,  but 
the  men  who  are  working  in  the  room  all  the  time  wUl  not 
think  of  that;  they  will  only  see  that  the  "boss  didn't  bother 
with  the  thing,"  so  they  will  attach  still  less  importance  to 
the  matter  than  they  did  before. 

Direct  Production  Loss  Due  to  Accidents. — ^A  cost  ele- 
ment of  less  importance  than  the  others  that  have  been  men- 
tioned, but  nevertheless  of  importance,  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
where  temporary  labor  loss  is  due  to  accident  it  may  be  that 
the  worker  who  is  injured  cannot  be  replaced,  especially  if  he 
is  especially  skilled  on  some  particular  job  or  process,  and  so 
that  job  has  to  be  shut  down  while  he  is  laid  up.    If  this  job 


\^r 


2M 


THE  FOREldAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


«68 


happens  to  be  one  that  ties  up  the  whole  production  work  in 
the  department  because  it  is  what  may  be  called  a  "key" 
job,  the  cost  may  be  considerable.  The  same  thing  is  true 
to  a  lesser  extent  when  temporary  absence  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  "double  up"  on  work  for  the  time  being  though,  of 
course,  this  depends  on  the  reserve  help  that  may  be  available 
on  that  particular  job  and  the  degree  to  which  doubling  up 
slows  down  production. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  ways  in  which  unsafe  condi- 
tions affect  absenteeism  and  turnover,  which  will  readily 
occur  to  any  foreman,  and  which  he  should  work  out  accord- 
ing to  his  particular  working  conditions,  but  those  given 
above  are  some  of  the  more  important  and  include  several  to 
which,  as  a  rule,  too  little  attention  is  often  given  in  con- 
sidering problems  of  safety  control. 

The  Managerial  Problem  on  Safety. — ^As  the  leader  of 
the  team,  or  the  **boss,"  a  foreman  has  responsibilities  as  to 
safety  and  so  must  have  managerial  problems  corresponding 
to  these  responsibilities  within  the  field  of  his  responsibilities, 
so  that  the  managerial  problem  as  to  safety  can,  in  general, 
be  stated  as  follows: 

The  foreman's  managerial  problem  as  to  accident  pre- 
vention is  to  reduce  accidents  to  a  minimum  by  all  means  in 
his  power,  by  action,  recommendation,  suggestion  and  co- 
operation with  other  agencies  where  such  other  agencies 
exist,  such  as  safety  departments,  hospital  service,  emergency 
medical  service  and  so  on. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Among  the  ways  and  means 
for  dealing  with  safety  problems  might  be : 

1.  Knowing  the  danger  points  and  "red  flagging  them." 

2.  Guarding  danger  points,  seeing  that  guards  are  used 
and  that  they  are  in  good  condition. 

3.  Picking  men  for  jobs  with  regard  to  the  number  and 
kind  of  danger  points. 

4.  Choosing  wisely  between  automatic  and  non-auto- 
matic safety  devices. 

5.  Giving  first  aid  in  case  of  accident. 


6.  In  case  of  occupational  dangers  seeing  that  all  pro- 
tective devices  are  used  as  they  should  be  used. 

As  a  preliminary  to  the  following  discussion  it  should 
be  pointed  out  that  the  selection  of  ways  and  means  in  deal- 
ing with  safety  is  largely  determined  by  the  cause  of  the 
injury,  and  that  the  first  step  is  to  decide  whether  a  so-called 
accident  that  has  happened  or  that  may  happen  is  really  an 
accident  at  all.  This  means  distinguishing  between  true  acci- 
dents and  injuries  as  considered  in  the  following  paragraph. 

Injuries  and  Accidents. — ^Every  time  that  anybody  is  in- 
jured it  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  "an  accident,"  but  this  is 
not  actually  true,  because  an  accident  really  means  injury 
due  to  some  cause  that  could  not  have  been  foreseen  or  due  to 
failure  to  take  known  precautions.  For  example,  when  a  man 
on  a  buzz  saw  loses  a  finger  because  he  did  not  use  the  guard 
and  the  guard  was  of  such  a  nature  that  its  use  would  have 
prevented  the  injury,  this  should  not  be  called  an  accident 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  It  is  an  injury,  but  not  an 
accident.  On  the  other  hand,  suppose  that  a  tested  chain 
breaks  and  as  a  result  a  sheet  of  steel  falls  from  a  crane  and 
some  one  is  injured,  that  is,  all  possible  precautions  within 
the  scope  of  human  power  have  been  taken,  we  have  what  may 
be  called  a  "true"  accident.  Again  there  are  certain  known 
precautions  that  make  a  given  job  safe  so  far  as  any  human 
being  can  see,  but  the  operator  is  ignorant  of  these  precau- 
tions and  is  injured  or  killed,  this  is  an  injury  but  not  an 
"accident"  in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  used  here. 

The  first  step  in  dealing  with  the  managerial  problems  of 
safety  is  to  determine  the  causes  of  injuries  and  decide  which 
of  these  causes  will  lead  to  true  accidents  and  which  to  pre- 
ventable injuries  and  then  to  decide  who  wUl  be  to  blame  if 
an  injury  or  an  accident  occurs. 

When  these  points  have  been  established  the  questions 
as  to  dealing  with  the  problems  of  safety  can  be  worked  out 
much  more  effectively. 

Causes  of  Injuries  and  Accidents. — ^Among  the  more  com- 
mon  causes  of  injury  and  accident  arc : 


•54 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OP  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


255 


1.  Ignorance  due  to  lack  of  proper  instruction  and  train- 
ing in  the  special  precautions  that  should  be  taken. 

2.  Failure  to  provide  adequate  safety  devices. 

3.  Failure  to  provide  automatic  safety  devices  wherever 
such  devices  are  possible  aiid  will  work. 

4.  Putting  the  wrong  man  on  the  job. 

In  general,  such  causes  of  injury  as  given  above  may  be 
said  to  be  due  to  the  plant  and  not  the  fault  of  the  person 
injured.  On  the  other  hand,  such  causes  of  injury  as  the 
following: 

1.  Taking  a  chance. 

2.  Failure  to  use  safety  devices  when  provided. 

3.  Being  in  too  much  of  a  hurry,  when  not  required. 
May,  in  general,  be  considered  as  due  to  a  "  slip  "  on  the  part 
of  the  person  who  is  injured. 

Straight  Accidents. — ^After  all  sources  of  danger  have 
been  guarded  against  so  far  as  human  foresight  can  go  and 
after  all  precautions  have  been  observed,  there  will  always 
be  the  "unexpected,"  the  injury  due  to  causes  that  no  one 
has  foreseen  or  possibly  could  foresee,  that  is,  accidents 
pure  and  simple. 

Injuries  Due  to  Ignorance. — Evidently  if  it  appears  that 
an  injury  was  due  to  failure  to  properly  instruct,  the  respon- 
sibility is  squarely  up  to  somebody  in  the  organization  and 
not  to  the  person  injured,  and  this  is  a  much  more  common 
cause  of  injuries  than  is  often  assumed,  because,  as  taken  up 
in  the  chapters  on  the  instructing  job,  showing  and  telling 
is  not  instructing^  and  where  a  worker  has  been  simply  told 
or  shown,  it  is  often  assumed  that  he  has  been  "instructed" 
when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  not  been  instructed  at  all. 
The  statement,  "I  told  that  fellow  to  keep  his  fingers  out  of 
the  gears  and  he  went  and  stuck  them  in  "  or  some  other 
corresponding  statement  is  not  uncommon  in  cases  of  in- 
juries, and  is  often  assumed  to  "put  the  responsibility  on  the 
man  and  let  the  foreman  or  other  responsible  party  out" 
when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  "up  to  them"  just  the  same. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  where  the  cause  of  an  accident  is 


found  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  person  injured  had  never 
been  properly  instructed  as  to  safety  precautions,  the  injury 
should  not  be  classed  as  an  "accident"  at  all : 

Such  cases  are  really  due  to  the  fact  that  somebody  fell 
down  on  his  job,  hut  that  **so7nehody"  was  not  the  individtml 
who  was  injured,  but  the  "somebody"  whose  business  it  was 
to  see  to  it  that  the  worker  was  actually  instructed  in  the 
necessary  precautions  and  that  the  instruction  **took.*'  For 
example,  in  diluting  sulphuric  acid  the  acid  should  be  run  into 
the  water,  not  the  water  into  the  acid.  A  person  unac- 
quainted with  the  facts  would  never  suppose  that  it  made 
any  difference  which  way  the  job  was  done.  A  new  man  is  put 
on  this  job  and  for  some  reason  the  necessity  of  strictly  fol- 
lowing this  procedure  is  not  actually  put  over  to  him,  so 
that  he  knows  why  one  way  is  safe  and  the  other  way  is  not. 
He  does  it  the  wrong  way  and  an  explosion  results.  Is  he  to 
blame  or  is  the  somebody  who  put  him  on  that  job  without 
making  sure  that  he  understood  how  to  do  it  right  and  would 
do  it  that  way? 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  cut  out  all  injuries  due  to  ignorance  since  they  are  due 
to  a  cause  that  need  not  exist  at  all,  at  least  in  theory. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem  of  Injuries  Due  to  Ignor- 
ance.— Evidently  the  only  remedy  for  injuries  due  to  ignor- 
ance is  to  cut  them  out  as  thoroughly  as  possible  by  seeing 
that  all  safety  instruction  is  so  effective  that  accidents  due  to 
this  cause  do  not  occur.  In  order  to  make  such  instruction 
effective,  the  methods  of  good  teaching  as  discussed  in  Part 
9  on  the  instructing  job  must  be  used  and  since  they  are 
fully  presented  there,  no  further  discussion  of  them  is  given 
here,  but  it  is  worth  while  to  draw  attention  to  the  necessity 
of  training  in  habits  of  safety  as  distinguished  from  merely 
telling  or  showing. 

When  a  man  is  new  on  a  job  and  has  been  properly  in- 
structed as  to  safety  precautions,  he  will,  while  he  is  "scared" 
of  the  job,  observe  those  precautions,  but  as  soon  as  he  gets 
over  his  "scare"  he  is  liable  to  get  over  looking  out  for  safety 


THE  FORElllAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

unless  he  has  been  given  the  safety  habit.  As  a  rule,  after 
men  have  got  used  to  working  under  conditions  that  involve 
danger,  they  will  only  take  precautions  in  proportion  as 
taking  those  precautions  has  become  an  unconscioas  habit. 

For  example,  it  is  sometimes  said  that  a  man  who  is  used 
to  working  with  high  tension  currents  can  always  be  "spot- 
ted" because  he  always  has  one  hand  in  his  pocket.  A  man 
used  to  city  traffic  will  unconsciously  look  both  ways  before 
he  swings  off  a  street  or  starts  across  the  street,  while  a 
"rube"  who  is  not  trained  in  safety  habits  does  not  look  both 
ways  without  thinking  and  so  something  very  often  happens. 

It  is  not  that  both  the  "city  feller"  and  the  "rube"  may 
not  both  know  what  to  do,  they  may  both  know,  but  that  the 
city  man  looks  out  for  himself  without  thinking  because  he 
has  been  trained  and  the  other  fellow  has  only  been  told. 

It  is  much  more  difficult  to  get  these  unconscious  habits 
after  one  is  used  to  a  job  than  when  one  is  learning  the  job, 
so  that  the  eflFective  promotion  of  "safety  first"  depends 
largely  on  the  degree  to  which  men  can  be  trained  in  safety 
habits  when  they  first  come  on  a  new  job.  After  the  job  has 
become  routine,  that  is,  in  the  case  of  experienced  men,  the 
formation  of  safety  habits  on  that  job  is  a  much  more  dif- 
ficult matter  and  the  matter  of  the  promotion  of  safety  must 
often  be  dealt  with  through  other  means,  some  of  which  are 
discussed  later  in  this  chapter. 

Trusting  Another  Man.— One  point  worth  mentioning  in 
connection  with  injuries  due  to  ignorance  is  that  the  common 
practice  of  putting  a  new  man  on  a  job  with  a  man  who  has 
been  doing  that  work  for  a  long  time,  with  the  idea  that  the 
experienced  man  will  post  the  new  man,  does  not  mean  that 
protection  against  accidents  has  been  really  secured  through 
instruction,  because  there  is  no  guarantee  that  the  "old 
hand"  knows  the  dangers  of  the  job  himself  with  any  degree 
of  accuracy  or  completeness,  or  if  he  does  know  them,  that 
he  will  be  able  "to  put  them  over"  to  the  new  man,  that  is, 
that  he  can  do  a  good  teaching  job.  In  many  cases,  his  own 
attitude  may  be  one  of  "contempt"  for  the  dangers  on  the 


CJOST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


257 


job  and  he  may  actually  encourage  or  even  instruct  the 
"green"  man  not  to  take  the  proper  precautions. 

This  method  for  cutting  down  accidents  due  to  ignorance 
cannot  be  depended  upon. 

Injuries  Due  to  Failure  to  Provide  Adequate  Safety 

Devices. — ^The  second  cause  of  injuries  that  cannot  be  prop- 
erly charged  up  to  real  accidents  is  failure  to  provide  ade- 
quate safety  devices  where  such  devices  can  be  used.  If,  for 
example,  a  man  were  injured  on  a  machine,  say  a  lathe,  by 
getting  his  fingers  jammed  in  the  gears,  and  the  gears  were 
not  guarded,  this  is  evidently  due  to  a  managerial  slip  some- 
where, not  necessarily,  of  course,  on  the  part  of  the  foreman, 
but  unquestionably  on  the  part  of  somebody  on  the  man- 
agement side. 

The  question  of  the  special  character  of  various  safety 
devices  and  the  degree  to  which  they  are  efficient  in  actually 
preventing  injuries  is  a  matter  of  expert  knowledge  and  so 
is  not  taken  up  here :  that  is  a  matter  for  any  given  foreman 
to  deal  with  according  to  his  responsibilities  (his  acting, 
recommending  or  suggesting  responsibilities),  or  his  special 
interest  in  the  subject,  but  certain  general  principles  may 
properly  be  made  a  basis  for  consideration  or  conference  dis- 
cussion, and  some  of  the  more  important  of  these  are  given 
in  the  following  paragraphs.  Among  the  more  important  of 
these  are  the  relative  values  of  automatic  and  non-automatic 
safety  devices,  and  the  conditions  under  which  each  form  of 
device  can  be  used  to  the  best  advantage,  both  on  definite  jobs 
and  in  the  general  working  conditions  in  the  plant.  For 
example,  a  department  may  have  carefully  guarded  all  ma- 
chines and  yet  have  accidents  due  to  poorly  lighted  stairways, 
or  insufficiently  guarded  elevators  or  other  things  of 
that  kind.  The  following  discussion  deals  as  much  with  gen- 
eral safety  precautions  and  devices  as  it  does  with  special 
devices  that  are  intended  to  prevent  or  lessen  the  chances 
of  damage  to  the  worker  on  equipment  units. 

The  Managerial  Problem  on  Safety  Devices. — The  man- 
agerial problem  here  is  to  secure  the  use  of  the  most  effective 

17 


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COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


259 


safety  devices  wherever  such  devices  will  be  of  service  and  to 
choose  between  automatic  and  non-automatic  devices  with 
regard  to  their  actual  value  for  accident  prevention. 

Where  safety  precautions  are  required  by  law  or  by  the 
insurance  conditions,  these  requirements  would,  of  course,  be 
given  first  consideration  but  not  the  only  consideration. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem — General  Safety  Devices.— 
By  general  safety  devices  is  meant  any  special  provision  to 
promote  safe  general  working  conditions,  such  a  fire  exits, 
lighted  stairways,  protected  elevators,  etc. 

Special  Safety  Devices.— This  term  refers  to  safety  de- 
vices provided  to  prevent  injuries  on  machines  or  other  equip- 
ment units,  such  as  guards,  goggles,  respirators  and  so  on. 
In  either  case  the  devices  may  be  automatic  or  non-automatic. 

Special  Safety  Devices — ^Automatic  and  Non-Auto- 
matic—One  common  method  of  reducing  accidents  is  the  use 
of  safety  devices,  both  automatic  and  non-automatic.  An 
automatic  safety  device  is  supposed  to  prevent  injury  by 
making  it  much  more  difficult  or  impossible — its  function  is 
to  relieve  the  man  from  "watching  out."  Guards,  railings  on 
stairways,  automatic  elevator  gates,  interlocking  switches, 
automatic  signals,  etc.,  are  types  of  automatic  safety  devices. 

Non-automatic  safety  devices  are  those  that  require  a 
man  to  set  or  adjust  them  if  they  are  to  be  of  value  and  to 
know  how  to  do  it.  Common  type  of  guards  on  buzz  saws 
or  jointer  goggles,  respirators,  gas  masks,  etc.,  are  examples 
of  non-automatic  devices  requiring  correct  adjustment  to 
be  of  service. 

Advantages  and  Disadvantages  of  the  Two  Types. — ^The 
great  advantage  of  the  automatic  device  when  it  is  to  be  de- 
pended upon,  is  that  it  does  away  with  the  danger  of  injuries 
due  to  familiarity  or  absent-mindedness  and  reduces  danger 
of  injury  due  to  ignorance.  The  surest  way  to  cut  down  in- 
juries is  to  make  working  conditions  such  that  they  can- 
not occur. 

The  great  difficulty  with  non-automatic  devices  is  that 


they  are  of  no  value  unless  they  are  used  and  in  many  cases 
the  majority  of  experienced  workers  will  not  use  them. 

Unless  trained  at  the  start  a  man  employed  where  there 
is  danger  goes  through  three  stages:  first  he  is  scared,  and 
while  in  that  state  is  overcautious;  as  he  learns  his  job,  he 
gets  over  his  first  scare  and  becomes  cautious ;  when  familiar 
with  the  work  he  becomes  contemptuous  of  danger,  so  that 
usually  the  more  experienced  the  man,  the  greater  the  danger 
of  injury  due  to  "  carelessness" 

Automatic  Devices. — ^As  just  pointed  out,  automatic  de- 
vices are  designed  to  be  "always  on  the  job"  and  so  to  cut 
out  the  human  factor  by  making  impossible  injuries  due  to 
negligence  in  taking  precautions, or  injuries  due  to  ignorance. 

The  idea  is  to  remove  the  cause  of  danger,  and,  so  far  as 
such  automatic  devices  actually  do  what  they  are  supposed 
to  do  with  100  per  cent,  efficiency,  they  settle  the  question: 
in  such  cases  there  is  no  danger.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, the  device  that  is  100  per  cent,  effective  does  not  always 
exist,  but  in  many  cases  the  device  contributes  a  considerable 
part  of  the  protection  and  the  man  must  contribute  the  rest. 

For  example,  an  automatic  stop  on  an  elevator,  assuming 
that  it  is  in  good  condition,  will  hold  the  elevator  if  the  cable 
breaks  without  any  help  from  anybody,  but  a  life  preserver 
only  works  if  it  is  put  on  properly.  In  many  cases  we  have, 
therefore,  a  sort  of  partnership  set  up  between  the  so-called 
automatic  device  and  the  man  and,  in  such  cases,  the  more 
the  device  does  and  the  less  required  of  the  man,  the  more 

effective  the  protection. 

The  Managerial  Problem  on  Automatic  Devices. — ^The 

managerial  problem  for  a  foreman  in  this  case  is  to  recom- 
mend, suggest  or  secure  and  install,  according  to  his  particu- 
lar responsibilities,  the  most  nearly  100  per  cent,  effective 
devices  that  can  be  obtained  on  all  danger  points:  this  is, 
in  general,  the  best  that  he  can  do. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^This  is  a  question  of  "job 
knowledge"  and  so  cannot  be  taken  up  here.  A  foreman 
should  acquaint  himself  with  the  actual  protection  values 


r 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


of  the  different  devices  obtainable  and  use  his  judgment 
and  experience  in  determining  which  of  them  will  give  the 
nearest  to  100  per  cent,  protection  under  the  special 
working  conditions. 

NON-AUTOMATIC  DEVICES 

Non-Automatic  Devices. — ^The  non-automatic  device 
differs  from  the  automatic  device  in  that,  unless  it  is  adjusted 
or  "set"  it  gives  no  protection  at  all  or,  in  other  words,  it 
becomes  an  automatic  device  of  a  certain  percentage  of  effec- 
tiveness only  after  it  has  been  set.  This  fact  changes  the 
character  of  the  managerial  problem  as  considered  in  the 
following  paragraph. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  in 
connection  with  non-automatic  devices  is,  first,  to  secure  and 
install  the  best  devices  obtainable  and  second,  to  get  men 
to  use  them,  and  the  second  problem  is  much  the  more  difficult 
of  the  two. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — The  determination  of  what 
sort  of  devices  should  be  used  is  a  matter  of  expert  knowledge 
as  to  the  special  dangers  under  the  particular  working  con- 
ditions. Such  knowledge  must  be  possessed  by  a  foreman  or 
by  some  other  part  of  the  organization,  say  a  safety  depart- 
ment, if  one  is  a  part  of  the  organization,  but  when  such 
devices  have  been  installed,  the  job  of  the  foreman  is  to  get 
them  used. 

Using  Non-Automatic  Devices. — In  getting  experienced 
men  to  use  non-automatic  devices,  the  foreman  must  depend 
mainly  on  careful  supervision  and  on  fighting  the  effects  of 
familiarity.  Bringing  cases  of  injuries,  due  to  refusal  to  use 
safety  devices,  to  the  attention  of  the  men  may  have  some 
value,  provided  it  "jars"  them  and  while  the  effects  of  the 
**jar"  last,  this  plan  may  be  of  some  value. 

Some  concerns  regularly  post  or  print  for  distribution 
accounts  of  all  accidents,  pointing  out  just  how  the  injury 
occurred,  why  it  occurred,  whose  fault  it  was  and  how  it 
might  have  been  avoided.  Provided  these  reach  the  right  men^ 


COST  ELEMENTS  OP  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


261 


they  probably  have  "jarring"  value.  Stuck  up  as  permanent 
notices,  they  really  have  little  value.  Moving  pictures  show- 
ing an  accident,  the  story  of  the  results  of  the  accident  as 
carried  into  the  family  or  even  to  the  hospital  and  the  cem- 
etery, have  been  used  to  advantage  as  methods  of  "jar- 
ring" men. 

The  point  here  is  that  whatever  is  effective  in  getting  men 
to  use  "foresight"  instead  of  "hindsight"  must  provide  for 
continued  "jarring."  Permanent  notices  that  "any  man 
failing  to  use  the  guard  on  this  machine  will  be  discharged" 
or  exhorting  poster,  such  as  one  showing  a  man's  hand  with 
three  fingers  cut  off  and  reading,  "This  man  thought  he  could 
run  this  machine  without  the  guard.  He  did."  are  of  value 
only  so  long  as  they  do  not  become  an  old  story, 

"  Red  Flagging "  Danger  Points. — ^A  common  man- 
agerial device  for  reducing  the  chances  for  injuries  is  "red 
flagging"  danger  points.  For  example,  all  danger  points  on 
machine  tools  are  sometimes  painted  yellow.  Undoubtedly, 
such  devices  have  a  "jarring  value"  when  first  put  on,  and 
with  new  men,  but  they  soon  become  a  matter  of  course  and 
then  lose  most  of  their  effectiveness,  thus  ceasing  to  act  as 
automatic  safety  devices. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  shops  where  some  time  in  the 
past  danger  points  were  located  and  most  elaborately 
marked,  but  where  it  is  now  evident  that  for  a  long  time 
nobody  has  been  interested  enough  to  keep  them  up.  This 
again  illustrates  the  principle  that  permanent,  unchanged 
notices,  etc.,  gradually  lose  their  punch. 

The  "Jarring"  Value  of  Discharge. — One  common  method 
of  attempting  to  insure  the  use  of  non-automatic  safety  de- 
vices is  to  discharge  a  man  for  not  using  them  on  the  theory 
that  the  rest  may  be  "jarred"  into  doing  it.  They  may:  for 
about  half  a  day.  In  many  cases,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  loss  of 
an  otherwise  good  man  is  worth  the  temporary  "jar"  value 
of  this  method.  Of  course,  a  case  of  persistent  carelessness 
is  another  story. 

Probably  in  no  field  of  the  foreman's  work  has  he  a  more 


A4U1 

SRnE 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


26S 


difficult  problem  than  in  getting  men  of  experience  to  use 
non-automatic  devices,  but  in  proportion  as  he  succeeds,  he 
does  a  better  job  in  accident  prevention. 

A  second  valuable  means  of  reducing  physical  injury 
to  members  of  the  working  force  is  through  developing  a 
greater  interest  in  the  prevention  of  injuries.  After  all  pre- 
cautions have  been  taken  in  instructing  as  to  danger  points 
and  guarding  against  injuries  liable  to  occur  in  connection 
with  them,  the  fact  still  remains  that  if  a  man  is  not  inter- 
ested in  taking  care  of  himself,  no  one  else  can  take  care  of 
him,  hence  the  greater  the  degree  to  which  a  foreman  can 
arouse  and  maintain  the  interest  of  his  men  in  the  reduction 
of  accidents  due  to  carelessness,  the  greater  the  cost  reduc- 
tion and  the  better  he  can  discharge  his  responsibility  as 
the  group  leader. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  best  ways  of  promoting  this  is  for  the 
foreman  to  be  careful  himself,  taking  all  the  precautions  that 
he  expects  his  men  to  take ;  if  he  is  careless,  he  cannot  blame 
his  men  for  being  so.  Aside  from  "setting  a  good  example," 
the  question  of  how  interest  can  be  best  promoted  is  based 
upon  the  skillful  use  of  the  interest  factors. 

In  many  concerns,  safety  committees  have  been  of  great 
value  in  arousing  and  maintaining  interest  in  accident  reduc- 
tion and  departmental  committees  undoubtedly  would  be  of 
value  in  aiding  a  foreman  in  this  matter. 
, .  Preventing  Injury  Through  Selection  of  Men. — ^A 
foreman  can  do  much  to  reduce  chances  for  injury  by  con- 
sidering special  danger  points  in  his  selection  of  men  for 
the  jobs  in  which  these  special  danger  points  lie.  For  ex- 
ample, a  stiff,  "logy"  man  does  not  belong  on  a  job  where 
things  are  likely  to  happen  quickly.  A  "rattle-headed"  young 
fellow  is  not  a  good  one  to  put  on  a  job  where  continual  fore- 
sight is  required. 

By  the  method  of  comparing  "  man  analysis  "  with  "  job 
requirements, "  as  discussed  in  another  chapter,  much 
can    be    done    to    select    the    best    men    with    regard    to 


danger  points,  especially  for  those  points  that  cannot  be 
covered  automatically. 

First  Aid. — Of  course,  the  main  reason  for  providing  and 
giving  first  aid  is  because  one  man  will  and  should  do  any- 
thing that  he  can  to  aid  an  injured  fellow  human  being. 
Aside  from  the  purely  human  side  of  the  question,  the  rapidity 
and  effectiveness  of  first  aid  has  a  cost-affecting  value.  A 
man  has  a  bad  cut.  Foreman  A  lets  him  tie  a  dirty  rag 
around  it,  with  all  the  chances  of  infection,  but  Foreman  B 
sees  that  it  is  disinfected  and  properly  bandaged.  Foreman 
B  runs  less  chance  than  Foreman  A  of  losing  the  services  of 
that  man  for  a  period  of  time  due  to  absenteeism  because  of 
illness.  In  cases  of  bad  accidents,  even  life  or  death  may 
hang  on  what  is  done  "till  the  doctor  gets  there."  A  man 
cuts  an  artery  in  his  leg:  one  foreman  knows  how  to  put  on 
a  tourniquet  and  saves  the  man;  another  foreman  does  not 
know  how  to  do  it  and  the  man  bleeds  to  death  (  or  is  so  weak- 
ened from  loss  of  blood  that  he  is  a  long  time  getting  over 
it)  before  the  doctor  arrives. 

As  a  purely  cost  proposition  and,  of  course,  in  this  case, 
more  important  considerations  of  common  humanity,  the 
degree  to  which  a  foreman  knows  how  to  render  effective  first 
aid  affects  cost  because  it  affects  labor  loss  and  turnover. 

The  Use  of  Trade  Literature. — ^The  interest  in  accident 
prevention  that  has  developed  in  recent  years  has  brought 
out  much  information  that  a  foreman  will  find  of  service  in 
safety  work.  This  information  is  continually  appearing  in 
the  various  trade  publications  and  one  important  part  of  the 
managerial  problem  of  a  foreman  who  feels  responsible  for 
safety  in  his  department  is  to  keep  posted  on  new  devices  and 
methods  as  they  come  up.- 

General  Cooperation  on  Safety. — ^In  addition  to  his  man- 
agerial job  on  safety  in  his  own  department,  any  foreman  has 
a  general  cooperative  responsibility  for  promoting  safety 
anywhere  in  the  plant  by  noting  danger  points  and  acting, 
recommending  or  suggesting  as  the  case  may  be.     This  is 


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COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


285 


41 


merely  an  extension  of  the  work  that  he  does  in  his  own  de- 
partment and  calls  for  no  special  consideration. 

SECTION  in.   COST   ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON 

ILLNESS  AND  DISEASE 

Preliminary. — The  questions  taken  up  in  the  following 
section  must  be  only  discussed  in  a  somewhat  general  and 
suggestive  way,  owing  to  the  wide  field  of  possible  discussion 
and  the  degree  to  which  the  various  cases  as  they  come  up 
under  working  conditions  will  offer  special  situations.  In 
many  cases  only  the  use  of  great  tact  and  sympathy  will 
enable  the  situation  to  be  dealt  with  effectively  and  probably 
in  no  part  of  his  job  will  a  foreman  who  has  established  the 
right  relations  with  his  men  draw  more  "interest  on  his  in- 
vestment" than  in  this  field,  and  it  may  be  worth  pointing  out 
here  that,  to  be  of  real  service,  this  tact  must  be  real  and 
the  sympathy  genuine. 

Acute  Illness. — ^Any  man  is  liable  to  have  an  attack  of 
acute  illness  at  any  time,  ranging  from  a  cold  in  the  head  to 
pneumonia,  and  he  is  liable  to  come  to  work  while  suffering 
from  such  an  acute  illness  or,  in  some  cases,  the  attack  may 
come  on  while  he  is  at  work,  as  in  the  case  of  acute  indigestion 
or  collapse. 

Chronic  Disease. — It  is  equally  true  that  members  of  the 
working  force  may  develop  some  form  of  chronic  disease  or 
may  be  employed  while  suffering  from  some  complaint  of  that 
character,  and  where  this  happens  it  also  calls  for  manage- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  foreman,  but  the  managerial  prob- 
lems and  the  ways  and  means  differ  from  those  that  come  up 
in  the  case  of  acute  illness. 

Chronic  vs.  Acute  Illness.— The  essential  difference  be- 
tween these  two  types  of  illness  is  that,  in  acute  cases,  if  a 
man  recovers,  he  is  just  as  good  as  he  was  before  while  in 
the  case  of  chronic  disease  the  condition  tends  to  become 
steadily  worse  and  worse,  it  is  progressive.  It  may  be  checked 
by  proper  treatment,  so  that  a  man  suffering  from  such  a 
complaint  may  possibly  die  of  old  age  or  from  something  else 


a 


before  the  chronic  complaint  finally  "gets  him,"  and  the  less 
care  he  takes  of  himself,  the  more  rapidly  he  gets  worse,  but 
in  few  cases  of  chronic  disease  is  there  such  a  thing  as  an 
absolute  recovery  unless,  as  is  true  in  some  cases,  the  disease 
can  be  caught  in  its  earlier  stages.  This  is  said  to  be  true, 
for  example,  in  T.  B. 

A  Foreman  not  a  Doctor.— -In  the  following  discussion  it 
should  be  understood  that  a  foreman  cannot  be  expected  to 
be  a  doctor,  that  is  not  his  job;  he  cannot  undertake  to  have 
expert  medical  knowledge,  but  if  he  knows  something  about 
such  matters  and  has  some  knowledge  of  what  can  be  done 
"before  the  doctor  comes"  and  can  give  "first  aid"  in  acute 
cases  he  can  materially  help. 

The  Foreman's  Responsibility.— The  question  of  the 
foreman's  responsibility  in  this  connection  was  discussed  in  a 
former  chapter  and  so  is  not  repeated  here,  but  it  may  be 
pointed  out  that  as  the  leader  of  the  departmental  team  he 
must  assume  the  responsibility  of  knowing  more  about  such 
matters,  of  "taking  charge"  when  necessary,  and,  in  general, 
of  knowing  more  about  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it  than  can 
be  expected  of  the  members  of  the  working  force. 

Since  the  cost  elements  for  chronic  disease  and  for  acute 
illness  are  somewhat  different  although  the  general  man- 
agerial problem  is  the  same,  the  two  sets  of  conditions  are 
discussed  separately,  first  for  acute  illness  and  second  for 
chronic  disease. 

The  Managerial  Job  Largely  Cooperative. — Except  in 
the  case  of  first  aid,  the  managerial  job  of  a  foreman  in  con- 
nection with  any  form  of  sickness  must  be  largely  a  coopera- 
tive one  in  which  he  cooperates  with  expert  medical  service 
of  some  kind.  He  can,  for  example,  advise  or  urge  a  sick 
man  to  see  a  doctor,  but  he  cannot  himself  prescribe  medical 
treatment.  If  there  is  medical  service  available  in  the  plant 
he  can  cooperate  with  that  service  in  "spotting"  what  looks 
like  cases  of  illness  and  "tipping  off"  the  medical  service. 
He  can  plan  so  that,  in  case  of  need,  medical  service  can  be 
secured  quickly,  but,  as  stated  above,  he  is  not  himself  si, 


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doctor,  although  he  should  be  able  to  render  such  emergency 
services  as  anybody  can  render  if  he  knows  how,  and  which, 
if  they  are  rendered  promptly,  may  save  serious  effects  or, 
in  some  cases,  even  save  life. 

Cost  Elements  on  Acute  Illness. — These  are  practically 
the  same  as  those  already  given  and  so  are  not  repeated  here. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  problem  here  is  to  re- 
duce the  cost  of  acute  illness  in  all  possible  ways. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — Of  course,  a  number  of  cases 
of  acute  illness  are  self  evident.  If  a  man  has  "sunstroke," 
or  acute  indigestion  or  any  other  "attack"  that  "puts  him 
out"  there  is  no  question  as  to  what  to  do,  and  about  all  that 
can  be  done  is  to  send  for  the  doctor  or  get  the  man  home 
and  give  what  temporary  relief  can  be  given  before  the  doctor 
comes.  Probably  the  most  effective  means  that  a  foreman 
can  take  to  deal  with  such  cases  from  the  managerial  point 
of  view  is  to  post  himself  as  to  what  to  do  and  what  not  to  do 
in  the  way  of  temporary  treatment  by  finding  out  what  to 
do  and  how  to  do  it.  If  there  is  a  medical  service  this  in- 
formation can  always  be  obtained  from  that  source,  and  if 
there  is  no  medical  service  any  doctor  will  usually  be  glad 
to  ffive  the  information. 

Whether  a  foreman  does  or  does  not  secure  this  informa- 
tion is  mainly  a  question  of  his  sense  of  responsibility  and 
the  degree  to  which  he  is  willing  to  give  some  time  and  effort 
to  the  matter. 

The  case  of  a  man  who  is  suffering  from  an  acute  sick- 
ness that  is  not  severe  enough  to  put  him  out  of  business  is 
a  different  matter,  and  perhaps,  in  some  ways,  one  that  calls 
for  more  managerial  skill. 

For  example,  a  man  is  coming  down  with  the  grippe: 
he  is  unwilling  to  knock  off  or  possibly  is  on  a  job  where,  if 
he  does  knock  off,  the  work  of  the  department  will  be  badly 
set  back.  Now  any  doctor  will  say  that  the  quicker  a  man 
in  this  condition  knocks  off,  goes  home  and  takes  care  of  him- 
self, the  quicker  he  is  likely  to  be  back  on  the  job,  and  the 
easier  time  he  will  have  of  it  while  he  is  laid  up.     In  man- 


aging such  cases  a  foreman  has  two  managerial  jobs,  first, 
to  be  able  to  tell  as  well  as  a  man  who  is  not  a  doctor  can 
tell  when  a  member  of  his  force  is  sick,  and  second,  when  a 
man  is  really  sick  to  get  him  to  take  care  of  himself. 

In  some  cases  it  may  be  possible  to  get  a  representative 
of  the  medical  department  or  a  local  physician  to  put  up  a 
good  plain  sensible  talk  to  the  man  at  the  noon  hour,  or  at 
some  other  time. 

This  is  one  of  the  cases  where  if  the  foreman  feels  that 
he  has  responsibilities  along  this  line  he  must  often,  as  the 
leader  of  the  team,  help  his  workers  to  help  themselves:  he 
knows  more  than  they  do,  and  this  is  particularly  true  where 
the  workers  are  comparatively  ignorant  or  uneducated. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  success  of 
the  foreman. who  wants  to  assume  responsibility  for  man- 
aging this  special  form  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  work- 
ing force  will  depend  almost  entirely  on  the  degree  to  which 
he  has  the  confidence  of  the  men  and  the  extent  to  which  they 
are  working  in  cooperating  with  him.  The  establishing  of 
such  relations  is,  in  itself,  a  managerial  job  as  discussed 
elsewhere,  but  it  is  important  in  this  connection.  Without  it, 
even  with  the  best  intentions,  a  foreman  can  do  but  little. 

Chronic  Illness. — ^As  already  pointed  out,  the  character- 
istic of  a  chronic  disease  is  that  it  is  progressive;  if  left  alone 
it  grows  steadily  worse  often  by  slow  degrees,  until  the  suf- 
ferer is  finally  unable  to  keep  on  working  any  longer.  It  was 
also  pointed  out  that,  at  least  in  many  cases,  such  chronic 
diseases,  if  caught  in  time,  could  be  checked  or  even  cured. 

If  a  foreman  feels  responsibilities  in  this  matter  he  has 
at  least  two  managerial  jobs,  first,  to  learn  what  he  can  as 
to  the  symptoms  of  the  more  chronic  diseases,  so  that  he  can 
spot  them  in  their  earlier  stages  and  either  tip  off  the  medi- 
cal service  or  advise  the  man  to  see  a  doctor,  and  see  him 
right  away.  Information  can  be  obtained  as  in  the  case  of 
acute  illness  as  just  suggested. 

In  case  of  chronic  illness  this  is  about  all  that  a  foreman 
can  do  in  the  matter  except  to  help  the  doctor  by  possibly 


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"favoring"  the  man  while  he  is  under  treatment  or  transfer- 
ring him  to  a  job  that  is  better  for  him. 

It  is  evident  that,  as  a  pure  matter  of  business,  a  man 
who  is  growing  steadily  worse  and  worse  with  a  chronic  dis- 
ease, say  T.  B.  or  Bright's  disease,  must  become  a  poorer 
and  poorer  worker  as  time  goes  on,  especially  if  the  disease 
is  allowed  to  go  on  unchecked,  and  that  it  is  good  business  to 
make  every  effort  to  head  it  off  in  the  beginning  if  that  can 
be  done,  and  this  is  quite  aside  from  the  fact  that  any  man 
will  do  anything  that  he  can  to  help  another  man  that  is 

in  trouble. 

The  General  Question  of  Disease  and  Illness. — ^There  is 

one  other  point  in  which  a  foreman,  if  he  cares  to  do  so,  can 
help  managerially  in  the  matter  of  illness  and  disease,  espe- 
cially when  the  workers  are  more  or  less  ignorant.  If  he  has 
a  hold  on  them  so  that  they  have  confidence  in  him,  he  can 
sometimes  advise  them  so  that  they  will  get  real  medical 
treatment  instead  of  quack  treatment  or  treatment  based 
on  tradition  or  superstition.  When  there  is  no  medical  de- 
partment in  the  plant  there  is  often  a  free  dispensary  in  the 
community  and  a  foreman  can  inform  himself  as  to  where 
it  is,  what  it  can  do,  when  it  is  open  and  so  on. 

If  his  influence  over  the  men  is  good  he  can  sometimes 
counteract  the  fear  that  many  ignorant  people  have  of  a 
doctor  or  a  hospital,  which  often  prevents  their  taking  ad- 
vantage of  free  service  or  refusing  to  see  a  doctor  at  all. 

Susceptibility  to  Personal  Injury. — ^It  will  sometimes 
happen  that  a  man  has  some  special  difficulty,  such  as  a  rup- 
ture, which  would  make  it  dangerous  for  him  to  attempt  cer- 
tain jobs,  although  he  may  be  all  right  on  the  job  that  he  is 
on.  Of  course,  in  a  well  organized  plant  such  matters  are  a 
matter  of  record  in  the  Employment  or  the  Personnel 
Department,  but  in  many  plants   such  departments  may 

not  exist. 

Whenever  a  foreman  can  secure  information  of  this  kind 
from  any  source,  from  the  Employment  or  the  Personnel 
Department,  from  the  man  himself,  or  in  some  other  legiti- 


mate way,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  do  so  and  bear  the  fact  in  mind 
if  a  case  comes  up  where  the  man  is  to  be  changed  to  another 
job,  especially  under  emergency  conditions. 

It  may  be  argued  in  this  connection  that  a  man  ought 
to  know  enough  to  take  care  of  himself  under  such  conditions, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  many  men  do  not,  they  are  careless  or 
sometimes,  in  the  case  of  ignorant  men,  they  are  scared  to 
say  anything  about  it  for  fear  that  they  will  lose  their  jobs, 
so  that  this  is  merely  another  case  where  a  foreman  must 
think  for  his  men. 

Of  course,  it  is  evident  that  when  a  man  is  on  a  job  that 
he  can  hold  down  all  right,  if,  through  shifting  him  on  another 
job  he  is  injured  in  the  way  under  discussion  here,  costs  have 
been  increased  and  somebody  has  done  a  poor  managerial  job. 

SECTION  IV.   COST   ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGERIAL   PROBLEMS   ON 
THE   GENERAL   PHYSICAL   CONDITION   OF   THE 

WORKING  FORCE 

Preliminary. — ^The  corresponding  section  in  the  last 
chapter  drew  attention  to  some  possible  supervisory  respon- 
sibilities in  connection  with  the  general  physical  condition  of 
the  working  force. 

These  responsibilities  whenever  they  are  included  in  the 
job  of  any  foreman  set  up  managerial  problems,  some  of 
which  are  suggested  in  this  section. 

The  general  principle  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  considering 
cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  under  this  heading  is 
that  if  anyone  undertakes  to  do  a  job  when  he  is  not  in  first 
class  condition,  the  cost  of  doing  that  job  is  almost  certain 
to  go  up  for  a  number  of  reasons,  among  which  are  decreased 
production,  increased  chance  of  errors  which  lower  the  qual- 
ity of  the  job,  damage  to  equipment  and  sometimes  injury  to 
the  worker  or  to  others.  In  order  to  deal  effectively  with  the 
various  managerial  problems  in  connection  with  the  general 
physical  condition  of  the  members  of  the  working  force  it  is 
necessary  to  know  at  least  some  of  the  more  common  causes, 
or  cost  elements  that  must  be  given  consideration.    Some  of 


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these  are  given  in  the  following  paragraph  as  suggestions. 
Some  Points  Affecting  General  Physical  Conditions. — 
Among  the  points   that  may   need  to   be   given   consider- 
ation are : 

1.  Overfatigue. 

2.  Excessive  mental  strain. 

3.  Special  susceptibility  to  injury. 

4.  Personal  habits. 

5.  Greneral  outside  conditions. 

6.  Retraining  cases,  both  V.  R.  and  I.  R. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  above  points  are  not  given 
as  cost  elements,  but  as  possible  causes  for  the  physical  con- 
dition of  a  member  of  the  working  force  being  "off"  in  some 
way,  or,  as  a  doctor  would  say,  "abnormal."  As  a  result 
of  any  of  these  points  bringing  about  an  abnormal  condition 
the  various  possible  cost  elements  come  into  play  as  they  are 
suggested  in  this  section. 

Corresponding  to  the  supervisory  responsibilities  for 
noting  such  abnormal  physical  conditions  are,  of  course,  the 
corresponding  managerial  responsibilities  for  doing  some- 
thing about  them,  and,  if  something  must  be  done,  doing  the 
things  that  will  give  the  best  results  both  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  plant  and  of  the  men  themselves. 

The  Foreman's  Responsibility  for  His  Men. — The  state- 
ment made  above  again  brings  up  the  matter  already  referred 
to  in  a  previous  chapter  as  to  the  responsibility  of  a  fore- 
man as  the  leader  of  the  working  group,  and  the  degree  to 
which,  as  a  leader,  he  is  called  upon  to  represent  them,  to 
some  extent  think  for  them,  advise  them  and  in  general  "look 
out  for  them"  in  ways  outside  of  straight  supervision  and 
management  from  the  standpoint  of  getting  out  the  product. 
The  action  of  a  foreman  in  many  of  the  cases  that  come  up  in 
connection  with  the  human  factor  as  considered  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  will  be  largely  determined  by  the  extent  to  which 
he  senses  and  accepts  this  sort  of  "protective"  responsibility. 

Overfatigue. — Among  the  causes  of  increased  cost  that 
are  now  recognized  as  requiring  consideration  is  plain  over- 


i 


fatigue:  workers  who  are  too  tired  are  expensive.  It  makes 
no  difference  whether  "the  man  drives  the  job  or  the  job 
drives  the  man"  the  results  are  the  same  in  the  long  run.  Of 
course,  under  emergency  conditions,  men  always  have  and  al- 
ways will  work  far  beyond  the  limits  of  ordinary  fatigue  and 
put  over  the  job,  but,  in  the  long  run  of  regular  work,  this 
sort  of  thing  is  not  economy. 

1  For  example,  during  the  war,  under  the  pressure  that 
existed  for  getting  out  tonnage  and  where  different  ship- 
yards were  competing  with  each  other,  certain  ships  were 
Iturned  out  in  a  wonderfully  short  space  of  time  and  this  was 
undoubtedly  of  value,  under  the  special  conditions,  as  a  stimu- 
lus, and  so  was  worth  while,  but  it  was  generally  understood 
that,  on  a  year's  tonnage  production,  a  spurt  of  this  kind 
actually  set  the  yard  back.  Again  certain  men  who  made  the 
records  on  certain  jobs  "burned  themselves  out"  and  there- 
after, for  at  least  a  long  time,  were  unable  to  turn  out  the 
standard  amount  of  work,  and,  in  some  cases,  were  reported 
to  have  been  obliged  to  quit  altogether. 

Cost  Elements  on  Overfatigue.— Among  the  cost  ele- 
ments on  overfatigue  may  be  the  following: 

(1)  Increased  "carelessness  on  the  job." 

(2)  Decreased  production. 

(3)  Increased  chance  of  accidents. 

(4)  Increased  temporary  labor  loss. 
(6)   Increased  permanent  labor  loss. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  prevent  overfatigue  or,  in  cases  of  emergency,  reduce 
its  cost  increasing  effects  to  a  minimum. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem — Recognizing  the  Condi- 
tion.— The  first  step  in  dealing  with  this  managerial  problem 
is  to  be  able  to  recognize  overfatigue,  and  this  cannot  be 
done  by  merely  asking  a  man  if  he  is  too  tired,  because,  very 
often,  the  worker  does  not  know  when  he  has  reached  a  con- 
dition of  dangerous  overfatigue  himself  and  will  go  on  when 
he  is  really  a  danger  to  the  plant. 

One  indication  of  such  dangerous  overfatigue  is  increased 


;  i 


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temporary  carelessness,  another  is  a  falling  off  in  accuracy, 
where  accuracy  is  required,  a  third  may  be  increasing  ab- 
senteeism, a  fourth  an  increasing  "slipping"  on  the  part  of  an 
ordinarily  reliable  worker,  a  fifth,  an  apparently  unaccount- 
able degree  of  stupidity  in  carrying  out  directions  or  orders, 
or  an  unexpected  irritability.  Of  course,  in  taking  such 
things  into  consideration,  various  conditions,  such  as  the 
weather,  personal  make-up,  etc.,  must  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration, but,  in  general,  tired  men  tend  to  be  cross,  apparently 
stupid,  careless  and  poor  on  the  job,  and  the  appearance  of 
such  symptoms  in  general  will  indicate  an  approach  to  a 
dangerous  condition  of  overfatigue  in  the  case  of  workers 
who  are,  under  ordinary  conditions,  all  right  in  tliis  respect, 
and  should  lead  a  foreman  to  give  careful  attention  to  the 
matter  if  he  wants  to  avoid  increased  cost  due  to  this  cause. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  give  some  considera- 
tion to  some  of  the  more  common  causes  of  overfatigue  under 
ordinary  working  conditions. 

Among  the  elements  that  may  call  for  consideration  are: 

1.  Too  long  a  working  period. 

2.  Absence  of  rest  intervals  during  the  working  period. 

3.  Bad  working  conditions. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  the  effect  of  monotony  of  work  is 
not  taken  into  consideration. 

Length  of  the  Working  Period. — ^Under  ordinary  condi- 
tions the  regular  length  of  the  working  day  is  fixed  and  a  fore- 
man has  nothing  to  do  with  it,  so  far  as  any  questions  of 
management  go,  but  in  some  special  cases,  such  as  overtime 
work,  he  may  have  a  chance  to  exercise  some  managerial  con- 
trol as  to  individuals,  at  least.  For  example,  if  he  is  watching 
out  he  may  note  that  a  certain  worker  is  in  a  dangerous  con- 
dition of  overfatigue  owing  to  the  length  of  the  working 
period,  and  in  such  a  case  good  managerial  procedure  may  be 
to  lay  that  worker  off.  If,  however,  it  should  happen  that 
the  length  of  the  working  day  were  under  discussion  and  a 
foreman  was  asked  to  make  recommendations  or  suggestions, 
the  following  might  be  of  interest. 


With  regard  to  the  relation  of  the  length  of  the  working 
day  to  production,  a  number  of  studies  have  been  made  that 
are  available  to  anybody  that  is  interested.  The  general  re- 
sult of  these  studies  may  be  simmied  up  in  the  statement  that, 
in  general,  for  any  given  job  under  given  working  conditions 
there  is  a  certain  length  of  working  day  that  will  enable  an 
average  worker  to  turn  out  the  maximum  daily  production, 
though  in  many  cases  that  length  of  working  day  is,  as  yet 
not  known. 

The  only  point  of  interest  here  is  that,  under  any  given 
set  of  conditions  there  is  a  limit  on  the  length  of  the  working 
day  beyond  which  it  does  not  pay  to  go.  Of  course,  under 
emergency  conditions,  this  period  can  be  exceeded  and  the  job 
done,  but  at  an  excess  cost  that  may  be  justified  by  the  emer- 
gency, but  is,  nevertheless,  the  price  paid  for  the  emer- 
gency job. 

Since  this  matter  of  excessive  length  of  the  working  day 
only  affects  a  foreman  under  emergency  conditions,  and  so 
gives  him  little  managerial  responsibility,  it  is  not  con- 
sidered in  any  further  detail  here.  The  matter  of  continuous 
work  during  the  working  day  is  quite  another  matter,  is  one 
in  which  a  foreman  can  use  a  considerable  amount  of  man- 
agerial ability  and  so  is  taken  up  in  more  detail  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph. 

Mental  Strain. — Some  jobs  require  continuous  concen- 
trated attention,  while  others  only  require  attention  at  inter- 
vals, and  we  know  that  where  continuous  attention  is  required 
after  a  certain  period  the  worker  "breaks  down"  and  after 
that  may  make  any  sort  of  a  mistake.  For  example,  compare 
the  job  of  a  locomotive  engineer  and  that  of  doing  a  job  on 
a  machine  tool.  The  engineer  is  constantly  "on  his  nerve" 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  each  run  between  stops: 
his  attention  cannot  drop  for  a  moment  without  danger.  The 
machinist,  while  he  must  watch  the  machine,  has  intervals 
during  which  his  attention  can  drop  without  danger  to  the 
job.  The  machinist,  therefore,  can  safely  carry  a  longer 
working  day  than  the  engineer  because  he  gets  rest  intervals 

18 


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275 


from  concentrated  attention.  Different  jobs  vary  in  the 
chance  that  they  give  for  rest  intervals ;  in  most  cases  the 
matter  will  take  care  of  itself,  but  in  some  cases,  unless  some 
managerial  action  is  taken,  there  is  danger  of  running  up 
costs  on  account  of  too  long  working  periods.  This  has 
been  found  to  be  true,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  operators  on 
telephone  switchboards,  especially  under  rush  conditions. 
The  operator  must  be  laid  off  for  a  short  time  at  frequent 
intervals  or  she  "goes  to  pieces"  under  the  strain  of  con- 
tinuous attention. 

Ph3rsical  Strain.— The  last  paragraph  considered  rest  in- 
tervals where  the  strain  was  mental.  It  is  also  true  that 
experience  has  shown  that  on  jobs  requiring  hard  physical 
work,  properly  spaced  rest  intervals  actually  enable  more 
work  to  be  accomplished.  This  is  true,  for  example,  in  mak- 
ing forced  marches,  as  military  men  know. 

Applying  the  Principle.— So  far  as  dealing  with  fatigue 
is  concerned,  with  regard  to  length  of  the  working  i)eriod, 
a  foreman  cannot  undertake  to  be  an  expert  in  these  matters. 
However,  he  can  bear  these  principles  in  mind  and  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  apply  them  in  the  work  of  his  department,  espe- 
cially in  cases  of  emergency  or  drive.  In  order  to  do  this, 
he  needs  to  bear  in  mind  the  general  fact  that  continuous 
work  does  not  mean  always  getting  the  job  done  at  minimum 
cost,  and  he  should  have  a  general  notion  of  how  this  prin- 
ciple works  out  in  the  jobs  in  his  department.  Among  the 
points  that  he  should  take  into  consideration  are  the  facts 
that  mental  and  physical  overfatigue  do  not  go  together  and 
that  mental  fatigue  is  more  dangerous. 

A  man  may  be  tired  mentally  and  yet  not  be  physically 
**U8ed  up,"  through  giving  concentrated  attention  and  this 
condition  is  more  difficult  to  detect  than  plain  physical  fa- 
tigue because  often  the  man  himself  does  not  know  it  until 
something  "breaks"  and  the  damage  is  done. 

As  a  rule,  hand  or  machine  jobs  give  more  chance  for 
rest  intervals  than  **head"  jobs.  For  example,  a  man  en- 
gaged in  making  a  long  calculation  is  more  likely  to  make  a 


mistake  than  one  working  on  the  ordinary  run  of  pro- 
duction job. 

The  Foreman  and  Overfatigue.— Since  much  of  a  fore- 
man's work  is  "head  work,"  he  is  particularly  liable  to  "run 
too  long,"  with  corresponding  danger  of  a  "break,"  and  if 
he  is  a  good  manager,  he  will  look  out  for  himself  as  well  as 
for  his  people  for  if  he  "makes  a  break,"  the  cost  results  may 
be  serious. 

Special  Susceptibility  to  Injury.— As  pointed  out  in  the 
last  chapter,  this  refers  to  cases  where  if  a  man  is  put  on 
certain  jobs  he  is  all  right,  but  on  account  of  some  special 
weakness  if  he  is  put  on  others  he  will  be  injured.  This  might 
be  true,  for  example,  of  a  man  just  out  of  the  hospital  after 
an  operation  for  appendicities,  or  in  the  case  of  a  man  suf- 
fering from  a  rupture,  or  in  certain  cases  where  women  and 
girls  are  concerned. 

Cost  Elements. — The  cost  elements  here  are  essentially 
the  same  as  in  other  similar  cases,  temporary  or  permanent 
labor  loss,  poor  work,  a  falling  off  in  production,  etc.,  as  the 
special  case  may  be. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
is,  so  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  putting  anybody  on  a  job  where 
they  are  liable  to  suffer  on  account  of  some  special  weakness. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— The  degree  to  which  a  fore- 
man can  deal  with  this  problem  depends  ahnost  entirely  on 
his  sympathy  and  tact.  If  he  has  succeeded  in  establishing 
the  right  relations  with  the  members  of  his  operating  force 
he  can  if  he  wants  to  do  it,  almost  always  find  out  about  such 
special  cases  and  take  them  into  consideration  in  distributing 
the  working  force.  One  point  here  is  worth  bringing  up. 
Once  more  it  is  a  case  where  it  is  up  to  the  foreman  to  protect 
his  men,  not  to  assume  that  "a  man  ought  to  have  sense 
enough  to  look  out  for  himself."  In  many  cases  they  won't. 
Sometimes  a  worker  will  be  afraid  to  protest  for  fear  that 
he  will  lose  his  job,  sometimes  it  is  a  matter  of  pride  with 
a  man  not  to  seem  to  duck  any  job  to  which  he  may  be  as- 
signed, sometimes  the  worker  does  not  know  that  the  job  is 


276 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


**too  much  for  him."  Whatever  the  cause  of  the  reluctance 
of  many  workers  to  tell  ahout  any  special  weakness  if  the 
foreman  is  a  good  manager  he  will,  so  far  as  he  can, 
"spot"  such  cases  and  look  out  for  them  as  a  cost 
cutting  proposition. 

In  many  plants  with  well  organized  employment  depart- 
ments information  of  such  cases  can  be  secured  there  and 
can  be  transmitted  to  the  foreman,  which  makes  the  man- 
agerial job  very  much  easier,  but  in  the  ordinary  run  of 
plants  a  foreman  must  get  this  information  as  well  as  he  can, 
and  will  be  able  to  get  it  in  proportion  as  he  has  the  confi- 
dence of  his  operating  force  and  they  believe  that  he  wants 
to  help  them  in  any  way  that  he  properly  can. 

Excessive  Mental  Strain.— It  is  a  well  known  fact  that 
some  jobs  are  liable  to  call  for  such  concentrated  attention 
for  so  long  a  time  that  the  operator  begins  to  "slip"  or 
otherwise  drop  off  in  ability  to  carry  the  job  in  first  class 
shape.  This  sort  of  a  job  often  calls  for  little  physical 
exertion,  as  in  the  case  of  a  locomotive  engineer  or  a  tele- 
phone switchboard  operator  in  a  large  exchange.  While  this 
mental  fatigue  is  quite  a  distinct  thing  from  physical  fatigue, 
it  results  in  doing  things  wrong,  not  in  thinking  wrong.  An 
engineer  who  has  been  on  the  run  too  long  runs  by  a  signal 
not  because  he  meant  to  run  by  it  but  because  he  "saw 
wrong";  the  telephone  girl  who,  under  the  same  conditions, 
plugs  in  the  wrong  number,  or  goes  into  hysterics,  as  has 
sometimes  happened,  before  these  facts  were  well  understood, 
doesn't  think  wrong,  she  does  wrong. 

Wherever  jobs  require  concentrated  attention  without 
any  let  up  there  is  always  danger  of  this  continuous  mental 
strain  bringing  about  a  dangerous  condition,  not  on  account 
of  physical  fatigue  but  on  account  of  excessive  mental  strain. 

Cost  Elements. — The  cost  elements  are,  in  general,  the 
same  as  those  already  given  and  so  are  not  repeated  here. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  cut  out  increased  cost  due  to  excessive  mental  strain. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— In  dealing  with  this  prob- 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


277 


lem  it  is  first  necessary  to  "spot"  such  jobs.  In  many  in- 
dustrial departments  there  are  no  jobs  of  this  character 
so  that  this  problem  would  not  come  up  at  all.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  the  sort  of  a  job  under  consideration  here 
is  not  one  that  requires  close  attention  but  one  that  calls  for 
continuous  close  attention  without  any  let  up. 

The  managerial  devices  here  would  be,  in  general,  those 
already  referred  to,  rest  intervals,  shifting  to  other  jobs, 
etc.,  so  they  are  not  repeated  here. 

One  other  point  worth  mentioning  is  that  people  of  differ- 
ent "make  ups"  will  vary  considerably  in  their  ability  to 
stand  up  under  the  strain  of  continuous  close  attention  and 
this  fact  can  be  taken  advantage  of  in  distributing  the 
working  force. 

The  main  managerial  point,  however  is  to  be  able  to 
recognize  jobs  of  this  character  when  they  are  included  in  the 
work  jobs  in  a  department  and  then  take  the  necessary  steps 
to  prevent  excess  cost  from  keeping  workers  too  long  on 
such  jobs  without  let  up. 

Personal  Habits  and  Physical  Condition. — ^A  man's  per- 
sonal habits  both  on  the  job  and  outside  the  plant  may  seri- 
ously affect  his  physical  condition  and  so  affect  costs,  setting 
up  a  managerial  problem  for  the  foreman.  For  example,  on 
a  construction  job  in  the  summer  a  man  may  have  the  habit  of 
working  in  the  sun  without  any  hat  with  the  result  that  he 
gets  through  the  day  but  is  off  the  next  day,  or  gets  sun- 
stroke during  the  day.  If  a  man's  personal  habits  are  such 
that  he  does  not  get  sleep  enough,  or  in  some  other  way  keeps 
liimself  in  bad  physical  condition,  say  by  going  on  a  "spree" 
after  each  pay  day  (  as  is  often  the  case  with  colored  workers 
in  the  South)  it  affects  labor  loss  and  so  affects  cost. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— What  a  foreman  can  do  in 
such  cases  outside  of  firing  a  man  if  the  case  gets  too  bad, 
and  standing  the  replacement  cost,  is  a  question  that  is  open 
to  considerable  debate.  Where  an  attempt  is  made  to  deal 
with  the  matter  managerially,  so  much  depends  on  the  per- 
sonal relations  between  a  foreman  and  the  man  in  question. 


5^78 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


so  much  depends  on  the  special  conditions,  and  so  much  de- 
pends on  the  make-up  of  the  foreman  himself,  that  this  par- 
ticular matter  is  only  suggested  here. 

Cost  Elements. — "So  new  cost  elements  are  introduced 
here  and  so  none  are  suggested. 

General  Outside  Conditions.^In  the  corresponding  sec- 
tion in  the  last  chapter  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  condi- 
tions under  which  workers  live  may  affect  the  cost  of 
operation,  in  various  ways,  and  that  as  a  result  some  super- 
visory responsibilities  might  come  into  a  foreman's  job. 

Cost  EHements. — The  cost  elements  are,  in  general,  the 
same  as  those  already  suggested  and  so  are  not  repeated  here. 

The  Managerial  ProblenL — The  managerial  problem  here 
would  be  to  reduce  costs  due  to  general  outside  conditions  in 
any  way  that  was  possible. 

Deling  with  the  Problem. — ^The  conditions  would  vary 
so  much  under  the  various  situations  that  might  come  up 
that  but  little  can  be  suggested. 

In  some  cases  education  will  serve  as  a  managerial  de- 
vice when  the  trouble  is  due  to  ignorance,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case  with  contagious  diseases  in  the  home.  In  other  cases  it 
will  do  no  good.  It  is  doubtful  if  in  many  cases  a  foreman 
can  do  much  of  anything  in  the  matter  except  to  cooperate  in 
any  way  that  he  can  with  other  agencies  such  as  a  medical  or 
a  welfare  department  by  the  methods  suggested  in  the  chapter 
on  cooperation.  At  all  events  there  may  be  a  managerial 
problem  here  that  under  some  conditions  would  be  worth  con- 
sidering. One  point  is  certain,  if  the  situation  can  be  handled 
without  discharging  good  men  it  is  good  management  to 
handle  it  that  way. 

Retraining  Cases. — ^This  special  case  was  explained  in  the 
last  chapter.  In  these  cases  no  cost  elements  are  involved  in 
the  sense  in  which  that  term  has  been  used  in  this  book.  The 
cost  elements  are  of  a  different  kind  and  some  of  them  might 
be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  The  degree  to  which  the  individual  was  actually 
retrained. 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


279 


2.  The  degree  to  which  the  retraining  was  carried  out 
in  the  least  time. 

3.  The  degree  to  which  morale  was  kept  up  during  the 
retraining  period. 

Each  of  these  points  sets  up  a  sort  of  a  managerial  prob- 
lem and  so  are  explained  somewhat  further  below. 

The  Individual  is  Actually  Retrained. — The  purpose  of 
retraining  both  for  V.  E.  and  for  I.  R.  people  is  either  to 
make  them  able  to  hold  down  their  old  job  as  well  as  they 
could  before  they  incurred  their  disability  or  to  train  them  so 
that  they  can  hold  down  some  other  job  in  first  class  shape. 
If  a  man  is  told  that  he  is  going  to  be  ''put  back  on  his  feet" 
it  is  up  to  everybody  connected  with  that  work  to  see  that  he 
is  put  back.  If  he  is  to  be  trained  for  a  certain  job  he  must 
be  so  well  trained  that  there  will  be  no  question  of  his  being 
able  to  do  as  good  a  job  as  anybody  else.  This  puts  a  man- 
agerial job  up  to  any  foreman  who  has  to  deal  with  retraining 
cases,  not  only  in  looking  out  for  the  efficiency  of  that  train- 
ing from  the  instructing  side,  as  taken  up  elsewhere,  but  to 
be  sure  that  the  man  or  woman  is  thoroughly  competent  be- 
fore reporting  them  as  "O.  K." 

Retraining  in  the  Least  Time. — ^V.  R.  cases  are  taken 
care  of  by  the  Government  as  long  as  the  training  lasts,  but 
most  I.  R.  cases  get  no  support  while  in  retraining.  la  either 
case  it  is  desirable  that  the  training  should  be  no  longer  than 
is  necessary  to  do  a  good  job.  This  is  again  largely  a  case 
for  instructional  management,  but  it  is  up  to  any  foreman 
having  such  cases  under  his  charge  to  do  all  that  he  can  to 
see  that  a  man  has  a  chance  to  advance  as  fast  as  is  possible, 
and  not  regard  him  as  somebody  to  be  merely  put  on  one 
job  and  then  kept  there  as  long  as  he  will  stay  without  mak- 
ing too  much  of  a  kick. 

Morale. — ^According  to  those  who  have  had  experience  in 
the  retraining  of  disabled  men  and  women  the  great  danger 
is  that  people  tend  to  make  special  cases  out  of  them:  in  a 
sense,  they  show  too  much  sympathy.  According  to  these 
experts  the  best  way  to  deal  with  a  retraining  case  is  to  treat 


880 


THE  FOREMAN  ASD  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


881 


■'f '• 


it  just  like  any  other  case  and  if  any  special  allowances  have 
to  be  made,  do  them  as  a  matter  of  course  and  say  nothing 
about  it.  This  practically  amounts  to  saying  that  the  less 
a  man  has  his  attention  drawn  to  his  troubles  and  the  less 
he  is  made  to  feel  that  he  is  a  special  case  who  is  not  to  be 
treated  as  if  he  were  a  normal  person,  the  better  he  will  keep 
up  his  spirits  and  the  less  he  will  worry  as  to  whether  he  can 
ever  get  back. 

The  managerial  problem  here  is,  therefore,  to  be  sym- 
pathetic but  not  to  show  sympathy  in  a  way  that  will  tend 
to  discourage  the  man. 

SECTION   V.    COST   ELEMENTS    AND    MANAGERIAL    PROBLEMS   ON 
THE  GENERAL  WORKING  CONDITIONS 

Preliminary. — One  other  element  that  may  affect  the 
physical  condition  of  the  working  force  is  the  working  condi- 
tions, which  set  up  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems 
that  are  different  from  those  already  considered  in  the 
previous  sections. 

This  section  deals  only  with  working  conditions  so  far 
as  they  affect  the  physical  condition  of  the  working  force: 
the  effect  of  good  or  poor  working  conditions  as  they  affect 
the  mental  attitude  of  the  members  of  the  operating  force 
being  taken  up  in  the  following  chapter. 

As  in  the  last  chapter  these  points  are  taken  up  under 
two  headings : 

1.  General  working  conditions. 

2.  Occupational  dangers. 

General  Working  Conditions. — The  sense  in  which  this 
term  is  used  here  was  given  in  the  last  chapter  and  so  is  not 
repeated  here. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  cost  elements  may  be : 

1.  A  necessary  falling  off  in  production  ability  due  to  the 
special  working  conditions,  as  in  the  iSre  room  of  an  ocean 
liner  where  the  temperature  is  unavoidably  high. 

2.  Dissatisfaction  and  loss  of  interest  as  taken  up  in  the 
chapters  on  those  matters. 

3.  Where  the  working  conditions  are  particularly  trying 


an  excessive  turnover  and  a  high  replacement  cost  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  securing  men  who  will  stay  on  the  job. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  reduce  excess  costs  due  to  poor  working  conditions. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Probably  no  more  difficult 
managerial  problem  can  be  up  to  a  foreman  than  that  of 
dealing  effectively  with  excess  costs  due  to  poor  working 
conditions.  In  many  cases  the  matter  is  one  that  it  is  out  of 
his  power  to  deal  with  effectively,  as  where  the  working  condi- 
tions go  with  the  job.  If  he  cannot  act  he  can,  in  many  cases, 
recommend  changes  that  will  improve  matters.  Since  many 
points  in  connection  with  this  managerial  problem  are  taken 
up  in  the  chapters  on  satisfaction  and  interest,  they  are  not 
given  here. 

With  regard  to  such  matters  as  illumination  or  ventila- 
tion he  can  often  do  a  good  deal  to  help  matters.  In  the  first 
place  he  can  be  on  the  lookout  for  cases  where  poor  light 
or  bad  air  are  affecting  the  work  and  can  often  improve  such 
matters  within  the  scope  of  his  authority,  either  by  action  or 
recommendation  backed  by  such  facts  that  something  is 
authorized.  Where  he  recognizes  that  the  conditions  are 
bad  he  can  allow  for  them  and  not  drive  so  hard. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  bad  working  conditions  are 
often  the  cause  of  fatigue  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
would  be  the  case  where  the  working  conditions  good,  and  this 
fact  is  recognized  in  some  cases  by  shortening  the  length  of 
the  shift.  Sometimes  this  pays  as  a  cost  reducing  man- 
agerial device. 

Of  course,  the  conditions  will  vary  so  much  that  only  the 
most  general  suggestions  can  be  made,  but  if  a  foreman  gives 
some  time  and  study  to  such  cases  of  poor  working  conditions 
as  may  occur  in  his  department  he  will  almost  always  find 
that  there  are  possible  ways  of  reducing  the  excess  cost, 
although  such  excess  costs  can  never  be  entirely  cut  out.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  wherever  bad  working  conditions  can 
possibly  be  improved  or  entirely  cut  out  it  is  good  business 
to  do  it,  although,  as  already  stated,  the  doing  of  it  may  lie 


-     THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


outside  of  a  foreman's  job  and  become  a  matter  of  plant 
policy  which  lies  outside  of  any  matters  that  are  taken  up 
in  this  book. 

Occupational  vs.  Working  Dangers. — ^When  the  danger 

does  not  absolutely  "go  with  the  job,"  but  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  people  will  "slip  up"  in  taking  all  the  necessary  pre- 
cautions, we  have  what  may  be  called  working  dangers.  The 
general  idea  of  a  working  danger  is  that  any  injury  due  to 
this  sort  of  danger  is,  at  least  in  theory,  preventable,  and  in 
practice  is  preventable  except  where  it  can  be  shown  that  all 
known  precautions  were  taken. 

This  distinction  between  occupational  and  working  dan- 
gers is  important  because  many  workers  and  foremen  regard 
many  forms  of  working  dangers  as  occupational  dangers  and 
so  take  more  or  less  of  a  "what's  the  use"  attitude  in  dealing 
with  them,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  working  dan- 
gers and  so  can  be  cut  down  to  a  minimum  or  entirely  cut 
out  by  studying  out  their  causes  and  giving  careful  consid- 
eration as  to  ways  and  means  for  removing  them  and  so 
removing  the  corresponding  working  dangers. 

Cost  Elements  on  Occupational  Dangers. — Among  the 
possible  cost  elements  may  be : 

1.  Temporary  labor  loss  due  to  occupational  dangers, 
accidents,  etc. 

Such  loss  may  be  due  to  illness  or  to  poor  physical  con- 
dition due  to  the  special  occupational  danger  of  a  given  occu- 
pation, as  in  the  case  of  lead  or  mercury  poisoning,  or  as 
in  the  effects  of  the  "dope"  in  covering  aeroplane  wings,  or 
to  accident. 

2.  Permanent  labor  loss  due  to  permanent  disability 
caused  by  occupational  danger  or  by  accident. 

3.  Permanent  labor  loss  due  to  workers  leaving  to  seek 
employment  in  other  occupations  due  to  fear  of  an 
occupational  danger,  of  injury  due  to  lack  of  safety  pro- 
tection, or  to  general  or  definite  dissatisfaction  with  the 
working  conditions. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  general  problem  here  is 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


283 


to  reduce  temporary  and  permanent  labor  loss  due  to  occu- 
pational dangers  to  a  minimum  and,  if  possible,  remove  any 
given  occupational  danger,  so  far  as  it  may  affect  the  mem- 
bers of  the  working  force. 

Dealing  with  the  ProblencL — ^The  degree  to  which  a  fore- 
man can  deal  effectively  with  this  problem  depends  largely 
upon: 

1.  His  own  attitude  toward  the  whole  question  of  occu- 
pational dangers  and  protection  against  them. 

2.  The  extent  to  which  he  takes  pains  to  inform  himself 
fully  and  correctly  as  to  the  facts  about  any  given  occupa- 
tional danger  and  the  best  methods  for  securing  protection 
against  it. 

8.  The  degree  to  which  he  sees  that  all  possible  precau- 
tions are  taken  to  protect  the  working  force  (and  himself) 
from  any  special  occupational  dangers  to  which  they  may  be 
exposed,  and  see  that  they  are  trained  to  always  take  all 
possible  precautions  and  to  use  intelligently  any  special  pro- 
tecting devices  that  may  be  required  and  should  be  used. 

The  Foreman's  Own  Attitude. — ^A  foreman's  own  atti- 
tude towards  the  question  of  dealing  with  protection  from  oc- 
cupational dangers  is  an  important  factor  in  the  success  or 
failure  of  any  methods  for  minimizing  its  dangers.  If  he 
takes  the  attitude  that  "it  is  all  foolishness  anyway,"  his 
men  will  tend  to  take  a  similar  attitude.  If  he  is  careless 
about  observing  precautions  himself,  his  men  will  be  equally 
careless.  If  he  does  not  make  use  of  special  protecting  de- 
vices when  they  ought  to  be  used,  he  will  find  it  hard  to  make 
his  men  use  them.  In  other  words,  if  the  foreman  as  the 
"gang  leader"  sets  the  right  example,  he  will  find  it  much 
easier  to  get  the  working  force  to  follow  than  if  he  tries  to  get 
them  to  do  what  he  does  not  do  himself.  In  the  matter  of 
precautions,  he  should  "beat  the  gang  to  it"  if  he  wants  to 
deal  effectively  with  his  managerial  problems  on  occu- 
pational dangers. 

Securing  Exact  Knowledge. — ^A  foreman  should  have 


ii* 


i\ 


284 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


exact  knowledge  of  the  character  of  any  occupational  dan- 
gers in  his  department. 

There  are  many  trade  and  shop  traditions  as  to  the  dan- 
gers of  working  with  certain  materials  that  arc  not  always 
based  upon  fact.  If  a  foreman  goes  by  these,  he  is  likely  to 
miss  both  ways — taking  precautions  against  occupational 
dangers  that  do  not  actually  exist  and  not  looking  out  for 
some  that  do  exist.  Where  there  exists  a  real  occupational 
danger,  the  fact  can  always  be  confirmed  and  exact  informa- 
tion secured  by  reference  to  competent  medical  authority. 
This  can  be  done  easily  if  the  plant  has  a  safety  or  medical 
service,  but  should  be  done  anyhow. 

The  assumption  that  a  certain  danger  is  occupational 
when  it  is  not  gives  an  indifferent  foreman  an  easy  chance  to 
get  out  of  giving  care  and  attention  to  the  prevention  of  pre- 
ventable accidents.  While  the  number  of  actual  occupational 
dangers  is  smaller  than  is  sometimes  thought,  they  do  exist 
and  where  that  is  the  case  they  should  be  classed  as  such. 

Taking  All  Possible  Precautions.— -Under  all  conditions, 
the  special  managerial  problem  here  is  to  get  men  to  protect 
themselves,  because  if  they  do  not  want  to  do  this,  no  amount 
of  supervision  can  make  them  do  it  all  the  time.  Because  the 
occupational  danger  does  not  show  itself  immediately  or 
visibly,  the  tendency  is  to  ignore  it,  especially  if  any  special 
precautions  interfere  in  any  way  with  comfort  or  getting 
the  job  done. 

The  chief  difficulty  in  this  case,  as  in  the  case  of  experi- 
enced machine  workers,  often  is  that  the  more  accustomed 
men  are  to  working  in  occupational  dangers,  the  less  they 
are  inclined  to  take  care  of  themselves.  This  is  another  case 
of  the  job  becoming  routine. 

Another  reason  why  workers  will  not  protect  themselves 
from  special  occupational  dangers  is  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand the  relation  of  the  special  protection  to  the  special 
danger.  For  example,  during  the  war  it  required  careful 
training  in  the  use  and  value  of  masks  before  many  men  would 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


285 


wear  them  unless  they  were  compelled  to,  untU  the  gas  came; 
then  it  was  too  late. 

Where  a  foreman  undertakes  to  deal  with  this  attitude, 
which  resembles  in  a  sense,  "carelessness  on  the  job"  but  with 
results  affecting  the  worker  instead  of  the  equipment  or  the 
stock,  he  is  faced  with  a  most  difficult  piece  of  work.  It  seems 
to  be  agreed  at  the  present  time  much  more  than  in  the  past, 
that  the  most  effective  agency  to  combat  this  situation  is 
education  and  training  in  the  use  of  safety  devices  and  in 
taking  precautions  combined  with  supervision. 

As  an  example,  during  the  war,  an  occupational  danger 
for  anyone  crossing  to  France  was  the  sinking  of  the  ship 
by  torpedoing.  Supervision,  which  in  this  case  meant  in  part 
seeing  that  boats  were  in  good  condition  and  that  life  pre- 
servers were  in  good  shape  and  sufficient  in  numbers,  under 
ordinary  conditions  had  been  considered  sufficient  precau- 
tions against  the  usual  chances  of  shipwreck  in  peace  times. 
With  the  greatly  increased  danger  during  the  war,  it  was 
quite  generally  held  that  supervision  was  not  enough,  but  that 
passengers  must  be  informed  as  to  the  danger  and  carefully 
instructed  how  to  use  life  preservers,  how  to  get  to  their 
assigned  places  in  designated  boats  and,  in  many  cases,  to 
drill  them  so  that  they  would  do  the  right  thing  almost  with- 
out thinking.  That  is,  when  the  danger  of  wreck  became 
what  was  regarded  as  a  serious  "occupational"  risk,  supervi- 
sion was  found  to  be  not  enough  but  had  to  be  supplemented 
by  education  and  training. 

In  general,  supervision  alone  will  not  result  in  getting 
workers  to  take  care  of  themselves,  because,  for  one  reason, 
if  they  do  not  understand,  they  will  not  cooperate.  While 
there  will  always  be  individuals  who  will  take  a  chance  or 
who  will  be  careless  (and  careful  supervision  is  needed  to 
catch  such  cases)  in  most  cases,  the  main  reliance  must  be 
in  getting  workers  to  really  see  why  precautions  are  neces- 
sary for  their  own  protection,  and  to  see  that  they  really 
do  understand. 

Since  this  brings  in  a  number  of  points  considered  under 


^ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


Safety  and  under  Instruction,  the  discussion  is  not  carried 
any  further  here. 

"Giving  Away  Occupational  Dangers." — ^The  statements 
just  made  implied  that  when  there  are  occupational  dangers 
they  should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  working  force. 
There  are,  however,  two  theories  with  regard  to  the  desir- 
ability of  doing  this :  the  first,  that  men  should  be  kept  in  ig- 
norance, that  is,  that  if  there  are  occupational  dangers  they 
should  not  be  "given  away,"  the  second  that  when  there  are 
occupational  dangers  the  working  force  should  be  given  the 
straight  facts.  The  argument  for  the  first  theory  is,  in 
essence,  that  if  they  don't  know  that  there  is  any  danger  they 
won't  "get  scared  and  quit,"  and  that  drawing  their  atten- 
tion to  the  danger  will  scare  them  and  make  them  quit.  The 
second  theory,  telling  the  truth,  is,  in  the  long  run,  the  better 
one  to  go  by.  In  the  first  place,  if  there  is  danger  men  will 
find  it  out  anyway,  but  may  not  get  things  straight,  and  so 
be  worse  scared  than  if  they  had  the  "straight  dope."  In 
the  second  place,  if  they  are  to  be  trained  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  they  must  know  what  the  danger  is,  how  it  is  liable 
to  come  and  the  necessity  and  value  of  special  precautions  or 
protecting  devices.  In  the  third  place  telling  the  truth  is  the 
best  policy  anyhow. 

The  best  managerial  handling  of  the  problems  of  occu- 
pational dangers  is  to  tell  the  truth  and  then  instruct,  edu- 
cate and  supervise,  being  sure  that  any  instruction  has  been 
effectively  put  over  by  the  methods  described  on  the  in- 
structing job. 


Name. 


COST  ELEMENTS  OP  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 

SAFETY 

Location  of  Possible  Danger  Points 

Position 


287 


Department 

Departmental  Job. 

Job 


as  part  of  Department 

as  part  of  Departmental  Job 


Operation 


-as  part  of  Job 


Description  of  Operator. 


Nature  of  Injury. 


Is  injury  apt  to  be  caused  by: 

Ignorance? . 

Why? 


Carelessness?. 
Why? 


When  injury  occurs  who  may  suffer  physical  injury? 

Workmen? Other  men? 

Why? Why? 


Will  equipment  be  damaged? 
Why? 


■r-    -v    -^r-' 


When  accident  occurs  who  will  suffer  money  loss?. 

Workmen  ?___ 

Why?^ — 


Other  men?- 


The  Company  ?- 
Why? 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 
PART  VI 

1.  In  an  aeroplane  factory  the  "  dope  "  for  the  wings 
contains  a  liquid  which  is  liable  to  cause  dizziness  when 
there  is  not  a  good  current  of  air.  Instructions  are  that 
at  the  first  signs  of  being  affected  the  worker  is  to  get  out 
into  the  open  air.  They  tend  to  take  a  chance  and  stay  on 
the  job  so  as  to  make  more  money  on  piece  work.  The 
fumes  will  work  no  permanent  damage  under  any  ordinary 
circumstances.     How  should  such  a  case  be  handled? 

2.  In  a  certain  stage  of  the  manufacture  of  white  lead 
there  is  danger  of  lead  poisoning  unless  men  wash  their 
hands  and  clean  their  finger  nails  before  eating.  They  are 
a  rather  ignorant  lot.  How  should  a  case  be  handled? 
Lead  (white)  is  a  cumulative  poison. 

3.  Where  there  is  an  occupationaj.  danger  as  above 
should  the  workmen  have  the  danger  emphasized  to  them 
or  should  it  be  minimized  so  as  not  to  scare  them  off  the  job? 

4.  In  the  yard  of  a  certain  factory  the  switchmen  make 
a  practice  of  getting  on  and  off  switch  engines  "flying." 
Is  this  a  safe  practice?  If  not,  how  would  you  break  it 
up?  Would  you  work  differently  with  experienced  and 
with  green  men?    Why? 

5.  Why  do  more  auto  collisions  happen  out  on  the  road 
than  in  congested  traffic? 

6.  What  is  the  value  of  making  discharge  the  penalty 
for  failure  to  properly  observe  safety  precautions?  What 
is  the  cost? 

7.  Which  is  probably  the  greater  source  of  danger,  the 
job  itself  or  dangerous  surroundings? 

8.  An  elevator  that  had  been  regularly  inspected  by  the 
insurance  company's  men,  dropped  one  story  with  no  seri- 
ous damage.  On  investigation  it  was  found  that  the  auto- 
matic stops  were  installed  to  work  the  wrong  way  and  had 
probably  been  in  that  condition  ever  since  the  elevator  had 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


289 


been  installed.     Was  the  foreman  to  blame?     Why?     This 
condition  could  not  be  discovered  on  any  casual  inspection. 

9.  Where  there  is  a  safety  department  continually  at 
work  on  the  job  what  responsibilities  has  a  foreman  as 
to  safety? 

10.  Under  what  conditions  is  a  foreman  responsible  in 
case  of  an  injury? 

11.  An  accident  happens  when  nobody  had  thought  it 
possible  for  an  accident  to  happen  under  those  condi- 
tions. Never  had  happened  before.  Anybody  responsible? 
If  so,  who? 

12.  A  man  is  grinding  a  tool  on  a  wheel  running  at 
high  speed.  The  wheel  bursts,  the  man  is  not  hurt  but  another 
man  at  work  on  a  machine  near  is  struck  by  a  piece  of  the 
wheel  and  is  injured.    Who  is  to  blame?    Why? 

13.  Is  it  possible  to  entirely  cut  out  injuries  due  to  the 
breakdown  of  the  human  factor?    Why? 

14.  What  are  the  most  effective  steps  that  can  be  taken 
to  cut  down  injuries : 

a.  Occupational. 

b.  Due  to  lapse  of  attention. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORKING 

FORCE 

1.  How  far  can  a  foreman  be  expected  to  go  in  equiping 
himself  to  spot  incipient  disease? 

2.  How  can  a  foreman  cooperate  with  a  medical  depart- 
ment to  the  best  advantage? 

3.  By  virtue  of  his  relations  to  his  men  what  can  a  fore- 
man do  in  connection  with  the  physical  condition  of  his 
men  that  nobody  else  can  do? 

4.  A  good  worker  is  known  to  be  in  the  habit  of  sitting 
up  till  three  o'clock  two  or  three  nights  a  week  playing 
poker.     This  is  interfering  with  his  work  because  he  has 

19 


290 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 


291 


not  got  enough  sleep.  As  a  result  he  is  careless  and  his 
work  falls  off.  Is  this  any  business  of  a  foreman  or  is  it 
the  mans  own  business?  Can  anything  be  done  in  such  a 
case  except  discharge  or  lay  off? 

5.  In  the  case  just  given  the  foreman  takes  the  matter 
up  with  the  man  in  a  decent  way  and  the  man  feels  that 
as  it  is  on  his  own  time  it  is  nobodys  business  except  his  own. 
If  the  man  is  a  good  man  and  he  is  to  be  saved  to  the  plant, 
how  could  such  a  case  be  handled? 

6.  A  man  shows  evidence  of  being  "  under  the  weather  " 
and  is  advised  to  see  the  plant  physician.  He  says  that 
he  is  "all  right  and  knows  how  to  take  care  of  himself." 
Would  you  go  any  further  in  such  a  case  and  if  so  what 
would  you  do? 

7.  A  man  who  is  a  good  worker  begins  to  fall  off  in  his 
work  but  insists  that  he  is  "all  right,  just  a  little  tired." 
The  foreman  is  afraid  that  this  man  is  suffering  from  some 
sort  of  incipient  disease.  How  should  he  handle  such  a 
case?  How  would  it  work  to  tell  the  man  that  he  must 
see  the  Doctor  if  he  wanted  to  hold  his  job?  Could  the 
matter  be  handled  in  some  better  way?  How?  Would  the 
nationality  make  any  difference?    How? 

8.  How  would  you  deal  with  a  case  where  an  ignorant 
foreigner  was  afraid  of  the  doctor  and  you  knew  that  he 
needed  treatment?  Any  better  way  than  scaring  him  into 
it?  What  is  the  objection  to  simply  ordering  him  to  see 
the  doctor  under  penalty  of  discharge? 

9.  You  have  reason  to  believe  that  one  of  your  men  is 
suffering  from  incipient  kidney  trouble.  You  know  that  he 
should  have  his  urine  examined.  He  is  afraid  to  have  the 
examination  made  for  fear  that  he  will  find  that  he  has 
Brights  Disease.  He  insists  that  he  is  all  right.  How 
handle  such  a  case  and  get  him  to  see  the  doctor? 

10.  A  man  cuts  his  finger  and  ties  a  dirty  rag  around 
it :  says  that  it  is  "all  right."     You  are  afraid  that  he  may 


get  an  infected  hand.  How  would  you  get  him  to  see 
the  doctor? 

11.  A  foreign  worker  has  a  sore  throat.  He  claims  that 
his  wife  is  taking  care  of  it  with  a  receipt  that  they  use  in 
the  old  country  that  is  a  sure  cure.  You  find  that  this  cure 
is  goose  grease  on  red  flannel.  How  would  you  get  him 
to  see  the  doctor  and  have  his  throat  examined? 

12.  Certain  races  believe  that  everybody  must  have  the 
smallpox  and  will  take  no  steps  to  avoid  giving  it  to  some- 
body else.  A  workman  of  this  nationality  has  smallpox  in 
the  neighborhood  where  he  lives.  You  are  afraid  that  he 
will  expose  himself  and  bring  the  disease  into  the  plant. 
How  are  you  going  to  handle  the  case? 

13.  What,  in  your  opinion,  is  the  value  of  posted  notices 
regarding  seeing  the  plant  doctor  instead  of  some  quack 
in  cases  of  illness? 

14.  How  far  should  a  foreman  go  in  equipping  himself 
to  give  treatment  in  the  following  cases : 

1.  Slight  bums, 

2.  Slight  cuts, 

3.  Particles  in  the  eye, 

4.  Heat  prostration ; 

or  should  he  make  it  a  rule  to  send  all  cases,  no  matter 
how  trivial  they  may  seem,  to  the  doctor  at  once,  even  if 
the  men  themselves  protest? 

15.  How  far  should  a  foreman  go  in  dealing  with  cases 
of  poor  physical  condition  that  are  due  to  habits  of  living 
at  home? 

16.  A  man  brings  his  lunch  and  the  foreman  can  see  that 
it  is  not  suitable  and  that  the  man  is  not  able  to  do  a  good 
job  in  the  afternoon,  on  account  of  the  character  of  his 
lunch.    How  can  such  a  case  be  handled? 

17.  Which  is  the  better  in  case  a  man  is  suffering  from 
an  incipient  disease,  say  T.  B.,  and  has  a  job  that  is  dusty, 
to  transfer  him  to  a  different  job  where  the  working  condi- 


202 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


tions  are  better  or  to  report  him  at  once  to  the  doctor?  Why? 
18#.  Is  a  foreman's  job  to  educate  his  men  to  look  out 
for  themselves  and  make  full  use  of  the  medical  service  or 
to  watch  them  and  see  that  they  do?    Why? 

19.  Many  ignorant  workers  are  afraid  of  a  doctor  and 
will  try  and  use  remedies  that  are  based  on  superstition. 
How  can  such  cases  be  handled?  What  can  a  foreman  do 
in  the  matter  if  the  men  feel  that  it  is  their  own  per- 
sonal business? 

20.  Has  a  foreman  any  business  to  butt  in  on  a  man's 
private  habits  outside  of  the  plant?  If  so,  how  could  such 
a  case  be  handled  so  that  the  men  would  not  resent  it? 

21.  May  a  medical  service  become  a  source  of  dissatis- 
faction in  a  plant?  How?  What  can  a  foreman  do  better 
than  anyone  else  to  prevent  such  a  situation  from  starting? 
How  can  he  do  it? 


PART  vn 

HUMAN  FACTORS  (CONTINUED) 


! 


CHAPTER  XVII 

SPECIFIC  AND  DETAILED  RESPONSIBILITIES  AS 
TO  THE  MENTAL  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  WORK- 
ING FORCE.    (MORALE.) 

SECTION    I.    PEELIMINAEY 

Preliminary. — ^Among  the  general  responsibilities  that 
were  given  in  Chapter  IV  was  that  for  the  general  mental 
attitude  of  the  members  of  the  working  force,  or,  as  it  is  often 
called,  the  morale  of  the  team.  This  chapter  takes  up  a  num- 
ber of  possible  specific  and  detailed  responsibilities  that 
might  come  into  a  foreman's  job  under  that  heading. 

The  cases  taken  up  in  this  chapter  are  somewhat  different 
from  those  already  gone  over  in  preceding  chapters,  because 
when  it  comes  to  the  matter  of  what  men  and  women  are 
thinking  about  we  have  a  very  different  sort  of  a  problem 
from  that  of  dealing  with  material,  equipment,  knowledge  and 
skill  or  even  physical  condition.  In  those  cases  there 
is  something  definite  to  go  on  and  so  responsibilities  can  be 
much  more  definitely  determined  than  in  the  case  of  men- 
tal attitudes. 

When  we  begin  to  consider  responsibilities  for  knowing 
what  somebody  else  thinks  about  some  matter,  and  further 
take  to  do  something  that  will  affect  that  thinking  in  a  defi- 
nite way,  we  can  only  make  the  best  guess  that  we  can 
on  the  basis  of  whatever  experience  we  have  had  in  similar 
cases,  or  experiences  obtained  by  other  people  in  dealing  with 
the  same  sort  of  cases.  Responsibilities  must,  therefore,  be 
considered  as  obligations  to  do  the  best  possible  with  regard 
to  matters  that  depend  on  morale,  using  our  best  judgment 
as  to  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  recognizing  the  fact  that 
no  two  cases  will  be  exactly  alike  and  that  there  can  be 
no  one  way  of  going  at  it  that  will  fit  all  cases. 

In  spite  of  what  has  just  been  said,  however,  we  know 

295 


I 


i! 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


MENTAL  ATTITUDE  OF  WORKING  FORCE 


297 


that  some  people  have  been  much  more  successful  than  others 
in  dealing  with  morale,  and  by  studying  their  methods,  what 
they  did  and  how  they  did  it,  we  can  use  this  knowledge  in 
dealing  with  our  own  morale  problems  to  better  advantage. 

The  chart  suggests  some  of  the  possible  obligations  or  re- 
sponsibilities that  may  go  with  a  foreman's  job,  but  are  only 
intended  to  be  suggestive  of  the  sort  of  things  that  he  must 
try  to  do  if  he  intends  to  deal  effectively  with  morale. 

The  Three  Specific  Responsibilities. — ^It  will  be  seen  from 
the  chart  that  it  is  possible  for  a  foreman's  duty  as  to  morale 
to  head  up  into  what  would  correspond  to  three  specific  re- 
sponsibilities:  leadership,  the  promotion  and  maintenance  of 
interest  and  the  promotion  and  maintenance  of  satisfaction. 
This  means  that  in  proportion  as  men  are  satisfied  and  inter- 
ested and  are  well  led,  morale  is  high,  and  that  it  is  a  part 
of  the  duty  of  any  foreman  to  endeavor  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  to  be  a  good  leader  of  an  interested  and  satisfied  team. 

SOME  POSSIBLE  EESPONSIBILITIES  AS  TO  THE  MENTAL  ATTITUDE 

OF  THE  WOBKIKG  FOBCS 

Planning  ahead. 

Getting  the  right  men  on  the  right  job. 

Keeping  up  the  organization. 

Fixing  responsibility. 

Not  trying  to  be  "it." 

Looking  out  for  the  "  team." 


Leadership 


Interest 


Satisfaction 


Noting  the  mental  attitude  as  to: 
Interest  in  the  work  job. 
Interest  in  the  departmental  job. 
Interest  in  the  plant  job. 

Noting  the  mental  attitude  as  to: 
Satisfaction  with  working  conditions. 
Satisfaction  as  to  general  surroundings. 
Satisfaction  as  to  the  plant. 


What  he  can  actually  do  along  these  lines  depends  upon 
himself  but  the  statement  just  made  states,  in  a  few  words, 
what  he  should  aim  at,  and  what  he  should  feel  under  obliga- 
tion to  attempt. 

These  three  sorts  of  obligations  are  taken  up  in  the 
foregoing  sections  in  the  order  given  above,  the  follow- 
ing chapter,  in  turn,  dealing  with  cost  elements  and  man- 
agerial problems. 

SECTION  n.    LEADERSHIP 

What  is  Leadership? — ^In  its  simplest  sense,  leadership 
means  the  ability  of  the  head  of  a  team  "to  get  the  team 
behind  him."  It  implies  that,  in  the  case  of  a  good  leader, 
his  men  will  go  with  him  because  they  want  to,  not  because 
they  have  to.  It  means  that  a  good  leader  can  get  things 
done  that  no  direct  exercise  of  authority  could  get  done,  in 
fact,  a  man  might  have  all  the  authority  in  the  world,  and 
yet  be  a  very  poor  leader  because  all  that  he  could  get  done 
was  through  the  exercise  of  direct  authority.  A  leader  may 
exercise  authority  to  any  extent,  in  fact  some  noted  leaders 
have  been  "martinets"  but  that  seemed  to  have  little  to  do 
with  their  power  of  leadership. 

Therefore,  we  may  say  that  a  leader  is  a  man  in  charge 
of  a  team  who  knows  where  he  wants  to  go  and  gets  the  team 

to  go  there  with  him. 

The  Elements  of  Leadership. — ^A  foreman,  as  a  leader, 
must  assume  certain  obligations  as  a  part  of  his  duty,  some 
of  which  are  suggested  on  the  chart  and  so  are  not  repeated 
here  but  are  briefly  taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Planning  Ahead. — One  detailed  responsibility  that  any 
leader  must  assume  is  planning  ahead.  He  must  see  things 
coming  and  be  ready  for  them  when  they  come,  especially 
as  regards  matters  that  affect  the  well-being  of  his  men. 
Thus,  for  example,  planning  in  advance  to  reduce  accidents 
is  a  characteristic  of  leadership  in  any  team  leader. 

Getting  the  Right  Men  on  the  Job. — This  is  often  called 
"building  up  an  organization."     It  means  assuming  the  re- 


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sponsibility  for  building  up  a  team  that  is  so  made  up  that 
while  each  member  is  a  first  class  man  on  his  particular  job, 
they  can  all  "pull  together"  to  put  the  team  job  across,  and, 
as  a  team,  will  pull  with  the  leader. 

Keeping  up  the  Organization.— Another  responsibility 
that  a  leader  must  assume  is  that  of  keeping  up  his  organiza- 
tion after  he  has  built  it  up.  Having  got  the  right  people  he 
must  hold  them  except  where  the  best  interests  of  all  con- 
cerned require  that  there  should  be  a  change,  as  in  the  case 
of  promoting  out  of  the  team  to  some  other  place  in  the  "big 
team,"  where  the  man  will  be  of  more  value  in  putting  over 
the  **big  team  job."*  In  such  cases  a  leader  will  endeavor, 
by  all  means  in  his  power,  to  secure  as  good  a  man  as  possible 
to  fit  into  the  team  in  place  of  the  team  member  who  leaves. 

Fixing  Responsibility.— Another  responsibility  that  a 
leader  must  assume  is  that  of  fixing  responsibility  among  the 
members  of  the  team.  This  means  that  wherever  he  gives  a 
man  a  job  he  holds  him  responsible  for  doing  that  job  and 
sees  that  the  man  knows  exactly  what  he  is  responsible  for. 

Not  Being  "It." — ^This  responsibility  comes  out  of  the 
case  just  stated.  Many  men  have  failed  as  leaders  because 
they  tried  to  carry  all  the  responsibilities  themselves  under 
conditions  where  they  could  not  do  it  and  also  lead.  "They 
tried  to  be  "It,"  and  so  failed  to  be  leaders.  A  man  who  tries 
to  be  "It"  will  never  willingly  let  anybody  go  ahead  and  do  a 
job:  he  will  never,  if  he  can  possibly  help  it,  delegate  any 
authority  to  anybody  else.  He  will  try  to  attend  to  every 
last  detail  himself.  If  a  man  wishes  to  be  a  leader  he  must 
give  up  the  idea  of  being  "It"  and  must  assume  the  responsibil- 
ity of  deciding  where  and  how  he  can  safely  delegate  author- 
ity, what  details  he  can  turn  over  to  others,  and  what  are  the 
duties  that  he  must  reserve  for  himself. 

Looking  Out  For  the  Men.— One  other  responsibility 
that  goes  with  leadership  is  that  of  looking  out   for  the 

*  The  question  that  is  likely  to  be  raised  here  as  to  a  case  where  a 
member  of  the  team  can  better  himself  by  leaving  the  organization  en- 
tirely, and  what  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  leader  in  such  cases  is 
really  a  managerial  problem,  and  is  taken  up  in  the  following  chapter. 


men.  This  comes  up  in  so  many  ways  that  it  is  only  possi- 
ble here  to  draw  attention  to  the  general  proposition  that 
a  foreman  has  supervisory  responsibilities  for  spotting 
chances  to  look  out  for  his  men  in  various  ways  and  that 
his  supervision  will  be  good  or  bad  in  proportion  as  he  does 
note  such  opportunities.  As  in  the  other  cases,  what  he  can 
do  when  he  sees  such  chances  is  a  managerial  matter  that  is 
taken  up  in  the  next  chapter. 

SECTION  in.     INTEREST 

What  is  Interest?* — In  its  simplest  sense,  interest  means 
anything  that  causes  a  desire  to  do  a  good  job,  whatever  that 
job  may  happen  to  be,  and,  in  proportion  as  people  are  in- 
terested they  will  try  and  do  "the  right  thing,"  whereas 
people  who  are  not  interested  care  little  or  nothing  as  to 
whether  the  job  is  well  done,  badly  done,  or  even  not  done 
at  all.  Since  the  whole  matter  of  labor  loss,  quality  of  work 
and  quantity  of  production  depends  largely  on  the  interest 
of  the  members  of  the  working  force  of  any  department,  it  is 
evident  that  any  foreman  has  responsibilities  for  noting  the 
state  of  mind  of  his  men  as  regards  their  interest  or  lack 
of  interest,  and  where  the  interest  is  poor,  taking  steps  to 
improve  it.  Methods  for  doing  this  are  taken  up  in  Chapter 
XVIII,  since  this  is  a  matter  of  management,  but  since  lack 
of  interest  must  be  determined  from  things  that  can  be  noted 
a  few  of  these  "  interest  indications "  are  given  here  for 
illustration.  Among  the  "  interest  indications  "  that  a  fore- 
man might  note  might  be  unnecessary  absenteeism,  a  falling 
off  in  quality  or  quantity  of  production,  carelessness  on  the 
job  and  unsteady  work  on  the  job.  Of  course,  there  are 
a  number  of  others  and  these  are  merely  given  by  way  of 
illustration.  Whatever  they  may  be  a  foreman  must  hold 
himself    responsible    for   noting   them    and    from   what    he 

•  For  a  much  more  complete  discussion  of  interest  and  interest  fac- 
tors than  can  be  given  in  this  book  see  "  The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The 
Job,"  Chapter  XXXVII. 


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observes  determining  the  extent  to  which  each  of  his  men 
is  interested  or  uninterested  in  his  work. 

Some  Interest  Responsibilities. — A  number  of  responsi- 
bilities that  must  be  assumed  by  any  leader  who  undertakes 
to  promote  interest  in  the  members  of  his  team  are  suggested 
on  the  chart  and  are  briefly  taken  up  below. 

The  Reputation  of  the  Plant. — ^In  any  plant,  but  espe- 
cially one  doing  business  on  its  quality  reputation,  if  the 
members  of  the  working  force  have  no  interest  in  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  plant  that  concern  is  in  a  bad  way  and,  in  prac- 
tically all  cases,  a  foreman  should  include  in  his  lay-out  a 
specific  responsibility  for  doing  all  in  his  power  to  promote 
interest  in  the  reputation  of  the  plant. 

Job  Pride. — ^A  man  who  **believes  in  his  job"  takes  more 
interest  in  doing  good  work  than  one  who  has  no  pride  in  his 
job.  A  foreman,  therefore,  has  responsibilities  for  doing 
whatever  he  can  to  develop  and  keep  up  job  pride  on  the  part 
of  the  working  force  in  his  department. 

Interest  in  Doing  a  Good  Job. — One  responsibility  that 
a  foreman  must  assume  in  connection  with  the  promotion  of 
interest  is  for  getting  men  interested  in  their  jobs.  How  he 
can  do  this  is  a  managerial  matter  to  be  taken  up  in  the  next 
chapter,  but  seeing  to  it  that  men  have  a  job  interest  is,  in 
a  way,  a  supervisory  responsibility  so  far  as  we  can  speak 
of  supervision  in  connection  with  morale. 

Interest  in  the  Departmental  Job. — ^In  addition  to  seeing 
to  it  that  men  are  interested  in  their  own  individual  jobs  a 
foreman  also  may  find  it  to  be  a  part  of  his  duty  to  see  that 
all  the  members  of  his  departmental  force  are  interested 
in  the  doing  of  a  good  departmental  job,  and  this  may 
constitute  another  supervisory  responsibility  in  connection 
with  interest. 

Interest  in  the  Plant  Job. — Still  another  responsibility  in 
connection  with  interest  may  be  that  of  seeing  to  it  that  the 
members  of  the  departmental  force  are  interested  in  the  suc- 


cess of  the  plant  as  a  whole  and  this  responsibility  may,  also 
come  into  a  foreman's  job. 

Keeping  Up  Interest. — ^Not  only  may  it  become  a  part 
of  the  duty  of  a  foreman  to  develop  interest  as  described 
above,  but  it  may  also  be  a  part  of  his  supervisory  job  to  see 
that  this  interest  is  kept  up:  to  spot  and  head  off  anything 
that  would  tend  to  reduce  it. 

As  in  all  other  cases,  taken  up  in  this  chapter,  the  inten- 
tion here  has  been  only  to  draw  attention  to  the  possibility 
of  the  responsibility:  the  question  of  how  to  discharge  it 
most  effectively  being  taken  up  in  the  next  chapter. 

SECTION  IV.    SATISFACTION 

Responsibilities  as  to  Satisfaction. — ^A  foreman  must  not 
only  assume  responsibilities  for  interest  but  he  must  also 
discharge  some  sort  of  responsiibilities  with  regard  to  noting 
conditions  as  to  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  in  the  minds 
of  the  members  of  his  working  force.  Several  of  these  possi- 
ble "satisfaction  responsibilities"  are  suggested  in  the  chart 
and  are  taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Interest  vs.  Satisfaction. — ^Interest  is  not  the  same  thing 
as  satisfaction.  An  interested  man  will  want  to  do  the 
best  work  that  he  can ;  a  satisfied  man  will  be  willing  to  stay 
on  his  job  or,  at  least,  will  not  "  kick  "  about  his  job.  He 
may  be  ambitious  to  secure  some  other  job,  say  a  better 
one,  but  while  he  is  on  a  given  job  he  does  not  feel  dissatis- 
fied with  it. 

Just  as  in  the  case  of  interest  a  foreman  must  determine 
the  mental  attitude  of  his  men  as  to  satisfaction  or  dissatis- 
faction from  different  things  that  he  can  note,  and,  in  many 
cases  he  will  find  it  difficult  to  determine  whether  these  things 
indicate  lack  of  interest  or  dissatisfaction.  Among  these 
"satisfaction  indications,"  may  be  unnecessary  absentee- 
ism, quiting,  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  man  to  get  trans- 
ferred to  some  other  job  that  is  no  better  than  the  one  that 


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he  is  on,  "  grouchiness  "  for  no  apparent  reason  and  some- 
times deliberate  failure  to  follow  directions  or  orders. 

Satisfaction  as  to  Working  Conditions. — ^It  may  become 
a  part  of  the  duty  of  a  foreman  to  note  the  degree  to  which 
members  of  the  operating  force  are  satisfied  with  the  working 
conditions,  at  least  so  far  as  he  has  any  power  to  do  anything 
by  action,  recommendation  or  suggestion. 

The  extent  to  which  this  particular  responsibility  would 
come  into  the  job  of  any  given  foreman  would  depend  on  the 
special  conditions,  but  since  he  can  almost  always  do  some- 
thing supervisory,  this  responsibility  in  some  form  is  quite 
certain  to  come  into  his  job  in  some  way. 

Satisfaction  as  to  General  Surroundings. — ^A  foreman 

not  only  has  the  responsibility  for  noting  the  state  of  mind 
of  his  men  as  to  the  working  conditions  on  their  jobs,  but 
he  may  also  be  responsible  for  spotting  their  mental  atti- 
tude as  to  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  with  regard  to  such 
general  surroundings  as  the  character  of  the  washing  facili- 
ties, the  provision  or  lack  of  provision  for  locker  space,  the 
lighting  conditions  and  so  on.  In  this,  as  in  the  case  of 
working  conditions  he  must  be  guided  by  such  "  satisfaction 
indications "  as  he  may  be  able  to  note,  in  the  case  of 
different  men. 

Plant  Satisfaction. — Satisfaction  may  be  also  affected  by 
different  things  that  go  with  the  plant  as  a  whole  and  that 
lie  outside  of  the  working  conditions  or  the  general  surround- 
ings in  the  department,  and  it  may  be  a  part  of  the  duty 
of  a  foreman  to  note  indications  of  satisfaction  or  dissatis- 
faction with  regard  to  such  matters.  For  example,  such  a 
case  might  come  up  in  connection  with  some  matter  of  plant 
policies,  say  the  way  in  which  men  were  paid  (cash  or 
check),  or  with  regard  to  who  should  be  laid  off  in  a  slack 
time.  As  in  the  other  cases  already  taken  up,  any  super- 
visory responsibilities  here  would  be  discharged  by  noting 
"  satisfaction  indications  "  as  already  described. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK.    COST  ELEMENTS 

AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  MEN- 

TAL  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE. 

LEADERSHIP  AND  INTEREST. 

SECTION  I.   PRELIMINARY 

Preliminary. — ^It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the 
two  main  human  factor  elements  are : 

1.  The  physical  condition  of  the  working  force. 

2.  The  mental  attitude  or  "state  of  mind"  of  the 
working  force. 

Just  as  some  of  the  cost  elements  and  managerial  prob- 
lems on  physical  condition  have  already  been  taken  up,  so 
this  chapter  deals  with  some  of  the  possible  cost  elements  and 
managerial  problems  that  may  face  a  foreman  in  connection 
with  mental  attitude,  or  morale. 

Before  this  question  of  state  of  mind,  or  mental  attitude, 
or  morale,  as  it  may  happen  to  be  called,  can  be  discussed 
form  the  standpoint  of  cost  elements  or  managerial  prob- 
lems, it  is  necessary  to  point  out  and  discuss  a  little  some 
things  that  affect  morale,  because,  without  a  clear  under- 
standing of  these  "morale  elements,"  as  they  may  be  called,  a 
foreman  cannot  deal  successfully  with  the  managerial  side  of 
his  job  in  discharging  his  general  responsibilities  in  this  part 
of  the  human  factor  block. 

The  following  section  deals  with  morale  and  some  of  its 
important  elements,  following  sections  taking  up  the  matters 
of  cost  elements,  managerial  problems  and  ways  and  means. 

SECTION  n.    MORALE  AND  ITS   ELEMENTS 

Preliminary. — One  of  the  most  difficult  managerial  jobs 

that  any  group  leader  has  to  face  is  the  successful  handling 

of  morale,  not  only  on  account  of  its  importance,  but  since 

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it  depends  not  on  what  men  do,  or  what  they  say,  but  on 
what  they  think.  The  success  of  the  leader  must  often  depend 
on  the  degree  to  which  he  can  "dope  out"  the  real  mental 
attitude  of  the  members  of  his  "team  "  from  what  they  do  or 
from  what  they  do  or  do  not  say,  and  this  is  often  a  very 
difficult  thing  to  do,  with  a  liability  of  disastrous  results  if 
the  "dope"  is  wrong. 

For  example,  in  one  case,  a  man  who  was  a  good  worker 
came  in  one  morning  in  what  seemed  to  be  a  very  ugly  state 
of  mind.  He  was  careless,  failed  to  pay  attention  to  direc- 
tions and  did  not  follow  them.  Finally,  on  being  reprimanded 
by  the  foreman,  he  turned  on  him  and  after  the  usual  "cuss- 
ing match"  that  often  results  from  such  conditions,  was 
fired,  or  fired  himself.  It  subsequently  appeared  that  for 
three  nights  that  man  had  been  sitting  up  all  night  with  a 
child  who  was  very  ill,  had  had  no  sleep  for  that  time, 
that  he  had  left  the  child  dead  when  he  came  to  work  that 
morning  and  had  come  to  work  because  of  loyalty  to  the 
plant  and  to  his  foreman.  It  was  perhaps  a  human  mistake 
for  the  foreman  to  "dope  out"  this  case  as  one  of  "pure 
cussedness,"  or  the  effect  of  some  sort  of  a  "spree,"  but  as  a 
fact,  his  dope  was  wrong,  and  he  not  only  lost  a  good  man 
and  caused  dissatisfaction  all  through  his  department  when 
the  story  got  out,  but  what  was  worse,  when  he  found  out 
the  truth  of  the  matter,  of  course,  he  was  all  broken  up  over 
it,  tried  to  find  the  man  and  straighten  things  out,  and  could 
not  get  any  trace  of  him.  The  foreman  was  honest,  but  his 
"dope"  on  that  particular  situation  was  wrong,  and  this 
story  is,  of  course,  only  told  to  illustrate  the  difficulty  of 
dealing  with  these  **mental  conditions"  or  morale  problems. 

What  is  Morale? — ^The  term  morale  has  recently  come 
into  use  as  indicating  the  "state  of  mind"  or  mental  attitude 
of  the  members  of  a  "team"  both  as  regards  the  job  of  the 
team  and  as  regards  dependability  in  an  emergency,  or 
under  special  strain.  This  "team"  might  be  an  army,  the 
crew  of  a  ship,  the  employees  of  a  railroad,  the  operating 
force  of  a  production  plant,  or,  in  general,  any  group  of  men 


whose  various  jobs  were  all  a  part  of  a  big  job.  In  the  case 
of  industrial  teams,  the  term  morale  has,  perhaps,  come  to 
be  used  more  especially  with  reference  to  the  interest  of  the 
members  of  the  operating  force  in  the  success  of  the  con- 
cern and  their  reliability,  although  the  term,  as  originally 
taken  from  the  French  carried  a  military  rather  than  an  in- 
dustrial significance. 

Good  and  Poor  Morale. — ^If  the  "state  of  mind"  of  the 
members  of  a  "team"  is  such  as  to  make  for  the  success  of  the 
job  of  the  team  this  condition  of  things  is  expressed  by  say- 
ing that  the  "morale"  is  good;  if  the  reverse  conditions  are 
true  we  say  that  the  "morale"  is  poor  or  "low,"  and  so,  al- 
though a  definite  statement  of  all  the  conditions  is  sometimes 
rather  difficult  to  make,  the  use  of  the  terms  "good  morale" 
or  "high  morale"  and  "poor  morale"  or  "low  morale,"  enable 
us  to  refer  to  conditions  we  understand  very  well  and  that 
might  take  a  long  explanation  to  make  clear  if  this  "techni- 
cal term"  were  not  used.  The  general  sense  in  which  the  term 
is  used  may  be  made  plainer  by  the  following  illustrations. 

It  should  be  understood  that  the  term  morale  can  be  used 
to  express  the  mental  condition  of  any  team.  For  example, 
when  a  baseball  team  "blows  up"  in  the  ninth  inning  and 
goes  to  pieces,  it  might  be  said  that  their  morale  broke  down. 
On  the  other  hand,  where  a  team  plays  the  best  game  that 
they  can,  even  when  they  are  outclassed  and  know  that  they 
cannot  win,  it  might  be  said  that  they  kept  their  morale  up 
to  the  finish  of  the  game,  even  though  they  lost.  A  team  with 
poor  morale  is  "licked  before  it  starts,"  a  team  with  good 
morale  is  never  "licked"  until  the  end  of  the  game.  A  team 
with  poor  morale  "can't  stand  punishment,"  a  team  with 
good  morale  can.  A  team  with  poor  morale  is  liable  to  go 
back  on  the  leader  any  time,  one  with  good  morale  will  "stand 
behind  him"  to  the  finish.  For  example,  when  the  Cumber- 
land, a  wooden  ship,  fought  the  ironclad  "Merrimack"  (the 
Virginia)  to  a  finish,  and  went  down  with  her  flag  flying, 
saving  the  wounded,  and  firing  her  last  shot  as  the  gun  went 
under,  Iel  Naval  man  would  express  the  behavior  of  the  officers 

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THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


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and  crew  by  saying  that  it  showed  good  morale.  At  the 
Battle  of  "Bull  Run,"  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  Federal 
troops  broke  and  ran,  for  no  special  reason,  a  Military  man 
might  express  their  "state  of  mind"  that  made  the  break 
possible,  by  saying  that,  being  inexperienced,  their  morale 
was  poor.  In  the  first  battle  of  the  Marne  it  is  said  that  the 
French  kept  their  morale  while  that  of  the  Grermans  had 
been  impaired  by  forced  marches,  looting  and  other  reasons, 
and  that  one  reason  that  they  were  driven  back  was  that  the 
morale  of  the  French  was  better  than  that  of  the  Germans. 

"Working  Conditions"  and  Morale.— While  it  is  true 
that  working  conditions  and  surroundings  do  affect  morale, 
they  do  not  seem  to  be  the  chief  factor,  and  mistakes  have 
often  been  made  in  assuming  that  good  working  conditions,  in 
themselves,  insured  good  morale. 

Conditions  may  be  poor  and  yet  the  morale  may  be  good : 
they  may  be  good  and  yet  the  morale  may  be  poor  or  break 
down  in  an  emergency.  For  example,  in  the  case  of  the  Cum- 
berland the  conditions  were  poor,  her  guns  had  no  effect  on 
the  ironclad,  her  wooden  sides  were  no  protection  against  the 
heavy  guns  of  the  Confederates,  "she  was  licked  before  she 
started  to  fight"  but  that  did  not  make  any  difference.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  Bull  Run,  the  Federal  troops  were  well 
armed,  well  fed  and  clothed,  as  well  or  better  than  the  Con- 
federates, yet  they  lost  their  morale,  and  it  was  said  that 
many  of  them  "ran  all  the  way  to  Washington  without  stop- 
ping," yet  they  fought  well  up  to  the  time  that  their  morale 
let  go.  Again,  in  the  "Great  War"  the  "Lost  Battalion" 
kept  their  morale  to  the  finish  and  "staid  on  the  job"  in  spite 
of  lack  of  food,  water,  shelter  and  sufficient  ammunition 
and  equipment. 

While  good  working  conditions  may  help  morale,  they 
do  not  make  it,  because  morale  is  really  the  spirit  of  the  team 
and  that  is,  after  all,  independent  of  the  surroundings,  and 
we  have  all  seen  cases  in  our  own  experience  that  prove  it. 
If  a  team  leader  has  the  responsibility  of  promoting  morale 


he  must  do  more  than  see  that  the  working  conditions  and 
surroundings  are  good  and  if  he  banks  on  them  alone  he  will 
fail  in  his  management  and  is  liable  to  get  a  disagreeable  sur- 
prise some  time. 

The  Recognition  of  Good  or  Poor  Morale. — Since  there 
is  no  way  of  "opening  people's  heads"  to  find  out  their  state 
of  mind  as  to  morale,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  do  not 
often  know  themselves  until  the  strain  comes ;  good  or  poor 
morale  can  only  be  recognized  by  the  way  that  it  "comes  out 
in  the  wash,"  that  is,  by  the  way  things  go,  as  indicated  by 
little  matters  in  the  ordinary  run  of  the  daily  job,  and  a  good 
supervisor  will  keep  himself  on  the  alert  to  spot  conditions  as 
he  goes  along.  The  more  interested  he  is  in  this  matter  of 
morale,  the  more  he  knows  about  the  underlying  causes  in  the 
case  of  his  own  particular  team,  and  the  wider  his  experience, 
the  more  successful  he  will  be  in  this  part  of  his  job.  The 
condition  of  a  team  as  to  morale  can  be  recognized  in  a  hun- 
dred ways  by  an  experienced  supervisor,  especially  in  propor- 
tion as  he  knows  his  men.  If,  for  example,  the  members  of 
the  team  are  "jumpy,"  they  cannot  be  depended  upon,  they 
are  liable  to  "break"  at  any  time,  and  the  leader  notes  this,  he 
knows  that  the  morale  is  poor.  If  he  knows  that  they  can  be 
depended  upon,  he  knows  that  the  morale  is  good.  If  the 
ability  of  a  plant  to  do  successful  business  depends  upon  the 
quality  of  its  product,  as  in  the  case  of  an  automobile  factory 
or  a  shipyard,  and  nobody  in  the  working  force  or  none  of  the 
supervisors  and  managers  care  whether  the  autos  give  good 
or  poor  service,  or  whether  the  ships  hold  together  or  go  to 
pieces  in  the  first  gale  of  wind,  the  morale  in  that  plant  is 
poor.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  whole  team  intends  to  build 
good  autos,  or  ships,  the  morale  is  good,  and  where  this  is  the 
case  it  is  always  due  to  what  may  be  called  good  morale  man- 
agement on  the  part  of  the  leaders. 

For  example,  one  of  the  best  shipyards  in  the  country  is 
the  Newport  News  Ship  Building  Company:  for  years  they 
have  turned  out  good  ships  and,  under  all  the  difficulties  of 


SOS 


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S09 


war  work  they  kept  on  doing  it.    On  a  bronze  tablet  near  the 
main  gate  is  the  inscription, 

"Here  we  will  build  good  ships, 
At  a  profit  if  we  can,  at  a  loss  if 
we  must,  but,  good  ships." 
and  this  inscription  indicates  the  spirit  of  the  morale  in  that 
yard,  from  rivet  boy  to  the  Greneral  Manager,  and  anybody 
who  was  in  contact  with  that  yard  could  sense  that  spirit  even 
if  he  knew  nothing  about  ship  building. 

The  Foreman  and  Morale.— The  question  of  morale  is,  of 
course,  of  interest  and  a  matter  of  responsibility  for  every 
supervisor  and  manager,  from  the  General  Manager  down, 
but  it  is  of  special  concern  to  a  foreman  because,  he  is  the  man 
who  is  in  direct  contact  with  the  working  force,  is  in  the  best 
position  to  know  them,  to  cooperate  with  them  on  the  one 
hand  and  with  the  Management  on  the  other,  and  so  to  know 
the  situation  at  first  hand.  He  can  do  more  than  anybody 
else  to  promote  or  to  kill  morale  and  has  a  corresponding 
responsibility,  so  that  the  problems  of  the  promotion  of 
morale,  as  management  problems  are  well  worth  the  careful 
attention  of  any  foreman. 

On  account  of  their  importance,  these  problems  are  dis- 
cussed somewhat  fully  in  the  following  section,  but  any  super- 
visor will  be  able  to  deal  with  them  effectively,  no  matter  how 
much  he  may  know  about  morale  elements,  only  in  proportion 
as  he  realizes  that  the  members  of  the  working  force  are  more 
than  "hands,"  that  they  are  human  beings,  men  and  women, 
boys  and  girls,  and  so  their  attitude  of  mind,  or  their  morale, 
is  affected  by  many  things  that  a  foreman,  by  virtue  of  his 
position,  can  control  to  a  greater  extent  than  anyone  else. 

SECTION   in.    COST  ELEMENTS   AND   MANAGERIAL   PROBLEMS   ON 

THE  PROMOTION  OF  MORALE 

The  Elements  of  Morale. — ^While,  as  already  pointed  out, 
the  things  that  affect  morale  are  often  difficult  to  get  at  in 
any  given  specific  case,  we  do  know,  in  general,  that  there  are 


certain  elements  that  always  enter  into  the  problem.  Among 
the  most  important  of  these  are : 

1.  Leadership. 

2.  Interest.  ' 

3.  Satisfaction. 

And  these  may  be  called,  for  convenience  in  discussion, 
morale  elements. 

In  any  team,  if  the  leadership  is  poor,  if  there  is  lack  of 
interest  and  dissatisfaction,  the  morale  is  sure  to  be  poor. 
With  good  leadership,  interest  and  satisfaction,  men  will 
"take  a  dredger  across  the  Atlantic." 

These  questions  of  leadership,  interest  and  satisfaction 
are  so  important  that  they  are  taken  up  in  the  following 
paragraphs  in  considerable  detail. 

A.   LEADERSHIP 

Leadership. — ^The  term  "leadership"  has  recently  come 
into  use  as  indicating  a  managerial  quality  that  everybody 
knows  when  they  see  it,  but  that  is  hard  to  define.  It  seems 
to  be  largely  independent  of  the  personal  make-up,  or  even 
the  desire  to  be  a  good  leader  on  the  part  of  any  one  indi- 
vidual, although,  in  the  absence  of  these  qualities,  good  lead- 
ership cannot  be  established  or  maintained.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  a  fact  that  men  have  been  sincerely  anxious  to  lead,  have 
worked  hard  to  that  end,  and  yet  have  failed  to  make  good 
on  the  leadership  job,  while  others,  without  apparent  effort, 
have  succeeded. 

The  following  discussion  is  not  an  attempt  not  to  tell  what 
leadership  is,  but  to  suggest  some  points  worth  thinking  about 
and  discussing. 

If  any  man  is  interested  in  the  question  as  to  what  makes 
a  good  leader,  that  is,  a  man  who  could  get  the  team  behind 
him,  one  of  the  best  things  that  he  can  do  is  to  study  the 
characteristics,  or  the  ^'make  up"  of  recognized  leaders  and 
try  to  find  out  "how  they  do  it."  If  he  does  this,  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs  may  be  suggestive  as  to  *Vhere  to  look  and 
what  to  look  for.** 


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THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


Sll 


What  Constitutes  Leadership.— If  the  suggestion  just 
made  is  followed,  it  will  be  found  that,  whatever  else  these 
leaders  possessed,  there  are  always  three  points  that 
stand  out. 

1.  They  could  plan  ahead. 

2.  They  could  get  the  right  men  to  work  for  them,  and 
could  keep  them. 

3.  They  could  get  the  team  with  them. 

Evidently  the  first  two  are  not  of  much  use  without 
the  third. 

Planning  Ahead.— The  ability  to  plan  ahead  depends 
upon  the  degree  to  which  a  man  can  see  what  is  coming  "down 
the  road,  and  how  it  is  coming"  and  plans  in  advance  to  take 
care  of  it  when  it  does  come.    He  does  not  wait  until  things 
happen  before  he  does  anything  about  them.       For  example, 
in  the  case  of  safety  protection,  one  foreman  notices  a  danger 
point,  say  a  belt  that  is  possibly  not  sufficiently  guarded,  but 
where  no  accident  has  ever  happened.     He  says  to  himself, 
"Oh,  well,  nothing  has  happened  there,  and  probably  nothing 
ever  will,"  and  does  nothing  about  it.    At  a  later  time  some- 
body does  get  hurt  there  and  then  that  foreman  "gets  busy" 
and  fixes  the  thing  up.     Another  foreman,  under  the  same 
conditions,  says  to  himself,  "That  thing  is  dangerous,  some- 
body is  liable  to  get  hurt  even  if  nobody  ever  has  been  hurt," 
and  fixes  it  up  at  once.    The  second  foreman  is  a  better  leader 
than  the  first.    It  must  always  be  remembered  in  such  cases 
that  the  foreman  has  one  of  the  three  possible  means  of  deal- 
ing with  the  matter,  action,  recommendation  and  suggestion. 
Again  a  piece  of  incorrect  gossip  gets  started  in  the  plant 
and  comes  to  the  attention  of  the  foreman :  one  man  thinks 
that  it  is  harmless   and  pays  no  attention  to  it  until  it 
"breaks,"  the  other  foreman  sees  that  as  it  grows,  like  all 
gossip  will,  it  may  make  a  lot  of  trouble  and  cause  a  great 
deal  of  demoralization,  and  he  heads  it  off  in  the  beginning. 
The  second  man  is  the  better  leader. 

Again,  a  foreman  sees  that,  as  the  work  is  going,  he  is 
going  to  run  short  of  work  and  must'  redistribute  his  work- 


ing force;  possibly  lay  off  some  of  his  workers  or  get  them 
transferred  to  other  departments.  He  makes  his  plans  in 
advance,  finds  out  where  he  can  transfer  and  determines  whom 
he  will  get  transferred.  If  he  has  to  lay  off  some  men,  he 
makes  up  his  mind  who  they  will  be,  and  even  perhaps  tells 
them  that  there  is  a  chance  that  they  may  have  to  be  laid  off 
and  that  if  that  comes  about  he  will  let  them  know  as  soon 
as  he  can  and  will  try  and  help  them  to  get  another  job. 
Another  foreman  does  not  see  what  is  coming  so  that,  when 
the  "pinch"  comes,  he  has  no  plan,  "gets  all  fussed  up,"  and 
being  in  a  hurry  with  no  plan,  fires  the  wrong  men,  can't  get 
transfers  and  generally  does  a  poor  leadership  job. 

"Taking  Carfe  of  the  Men."— One  special  form  of  plan- 
ning that  seems  to  go  with  good  leadership  is  "taking  care 
of  the  men."  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  story  of  "Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  and  the  Beans."  In  the  Spanish  War  his  regi- 
ment was  on  the  firing  line  and  the  Commissary  failed  to  get 
up  the  food.  As  the  story  was  told  at  the  time,  he  decided 
that  his  men  should  not  have  to  fight  on  empty  stomachs,  stole 
some  pack  mules,  went  down  to  the  base,  broke  into  some 
freight  cars  and  got  the  beans.  Probably  no  one  quality  of 
successful  leaders  stands  out  more  strongly  than  the  fact 
that  they  "took  care  of  their  men"  and  as  a  result  the  men 
were  behind  them  all  the  time,  in  whatever  was  attempted. 

Of  course,  all  foremen  do  look  out  for  their  men,  but  many 
do  not  realize  to  what  an  extent  such  a  reputation  increases 
the  morale  of  the  team,  and  the  value  of  such  a  reputation  in 
securing  cooperation  from  the  working  force.  They  think 
of  it  more  as  a  "duty"  and  not  as  a  leadership  element. 

Getting  the  Right  Men  and  Keeping  Them. — ^Andrew 
Carnegie  has  been  quoted  as  having  said  that  his  success  was 
not  due  to  his  having  any  special  knowledge  of  the  steel  busi- 
ness, but  to  the  fact  that  he  knew  how  to  find  and  keep  men 
who  did  know  that  business.  General  Grant  is  said  to  have 
claimed  that  his  success  as  a  military  man  was  not  so  much 
due  to  any  special  ability  that  he  possessed  as  to  the  fact  that 
he  knew  how  to  pick  out  the  right  men  for  his  generals. 


« 


81S 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


This  ability  to  get  the  right  men  on  the  right  jobs  and 
hold  them  in  the  team  (though  not  necessarily  on  the  same 
jobs)  is  what  is  often  called  "building  up  an  organization," 
and  is  one  of  the  marked  points  that  most  recognized  leaders 
have  possessed. 

While  a  foreman  has  a  more  limited  field  than  a  Greneral 
Manager  or  a  Lieutenant  Greneral,  still,  within  that  field, 
he  can  build  up  his  departmental  organization  along  the  same 
lines,  and  in  proportion  as  he  does  this,  he  shows  one  of  the 
qualities  of  good  leadership. 

"Getting  the  Team  with  Them."— The  last  and  the  most 
important  quality  shown  by  all  recognized  leaders  has  been 
their  ability  "to  keep  the  team  with  them."  While  this  in- 
cludes the  idea  of  cooperation,  as  already  discussed,  it  means 
more  than  that.  It  means  that  the  "team"  will  follow  the 
leader  wherever  he  will  go.  They  will  "back  him  to  the 
limit,"  as  the  expression  goes.  When  he  says,  "Come  on, 
boys,"  they  come,  and,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  that  a  good 
leader  always  says,  "Come  on,"  and  not  "Go  on."  He  is  a 
leader  and  not  a  driver,  A  straight  driver  may  get  out  the 
work,  but  he  can  never  be  a  leader  as  the  term  is  used  here. 
Perhaps  two  of  the  men  who  have  shown  this  quality  in  a  re- 
markable degree  are  Roosevelt  and  Hoover;  both  could  get 
their  team  to  'Vork  their  heads  off"  on  any  job  that  they 
tackled,  and  keep  at  it  until  the  job  was  finished. 

Cost  Elements  on  Leadership. — The  cost  elements  that 
may  come  into  play  in  connection  with  good  or  poor  leader- 
ship may  include  almost  any  of  the  human  factors,  as  they 
are  discussed  in  different  parts  of  this  book,  and  they  vary 
so  much  according  to  circumstances  that  only  a  few  can  be 
suggested  here.  Among  the  cost  elements  due  to  poor  leader- 
ship, or  lack  of  leadership,  might  be : 

1.  Indifference,  or  lack  of  interest,  on  the  part  of  the 
members  of  the  team,  resulting  in  such  things  as  reduced  pro- 
duction, poor  quality,  carelessness,  absenteeism  and  so  on. 

2.  Disorganization,  due  to  lack  of  planning  in  advance, 
especially  in  emergencies,  resulting  in  "crossed  wires,"  dis- 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


S18 


satisfaction,  unnecessary  "rows,"  and  waste  of  time 
and  material. 

3,  Demoralization,  especially  in  emergencies,  due  to  lack 
of  confidence  in  the  leader. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— While,  in  the  sense  in  which 
this  term  has  been  used,  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a 
"managerial  problem"  in  connection  with  leadership,  except 
so  far  as  a  man  may  "manage  himself,"  in  this  sense,  anyone 
having  supervisory  and  managerial  responsibilities  has  the 
problem  of  becoming  as  good  a  leader  as  he  can,  and  this  is 
his  job:  nobody  can  do  it  for  him. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^The  preceding  discussion 
has  indicated  some  of  the  "ways  and  means"  that  a  foreman 
or  other  executive  might  employ  in  working  out  his  own  ^'man- 
agerial  problem  on  leadership."  In  this  connection  the  fol- 
lowing may  be  suggestive,  if  nothing  more.. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  value  of  studying 
the  way  in  which  recognized  leaders  have  worked,  and  while 
no  man  could  become  a  leader  by  copying  the  work  of  another 
man,  he  can  sometimes  get  pointers  that  may  be  of  value  to 
him  on  his  leadership  "managerial  job."  If  we  take  a  look 
at  the  "working  methods"  of  such  men  we  will  almost  always 
find  that  they  did  certain  things,  among  which  were: 

1.  When  they  put  a  man  on  a  job  they  made  sure  that 
he  knew  what  the  job  was  and  knew  how  to  do  it,  and  then 
did  not  interfere  except  to  help  by  suggestion.  That  is,  they 
did  not  overcupervise.  They  made  the  man  feel  that  the  job 
was  his  job  and  not  their  job.  They  made  the  man  feel  that 
he  had  "the  goods"  and  could  deliver  them. 

2.  They  saw  to  it  that  every  member  of  the  team  saw 
how  his  job  was  necessary  to  the  job  of  the  team,  and  just 
how  it  fitted  into  the  "team  job." 

3.  They  were  human  and  considerate  in  dealing  with  sub- 
ordinates but  were  not  "slack." 

4.  They  were  willing  to  listen  to  subordinates  and  take 
advice  and  suggestions  even  if  they  did  not  follow  them. 

6.  They  knew  their  men. 


814 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


S15 


m 

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Wmmm 


How  far  any  of  these  leadership  points  might  fit  the  case 
of  any  one  foreman  under  his  special  conditions  is,  of  course,  a 
matter  for  study  and  discussion,  they  are  only  put  up  as  sug- 
gestions, but  they  are  some  of  the  things  that  have  gone  with 
leadership,  and  it  is  certain  that  within  the  limits  of  his  job 
a  foreman  can,  if  he  has  it  in  him,  become  a  leader  for  his  oper- 
ating force,  just  as  must  as  if  he  were  a  man  "higher  up." 
There  is  no  need  for  him  to  think  "If  I  were  the  General  Man- 
ager, or  the  President  of  the  Company,  I  could  be  a  leader, 
but  I  can't  do  it  as  a  foreman."    As  has  been  pointed  out,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  a  foreman  has  a  better  chance  to  put  over  a 
real  leadership  job  than  anybody  else,  and  he  should  not  think 
that  he  has  no  job  in  this  way  if  his  operating  force  happens 
to  be  made  up  of  foreign  bom  people,  or  ignorant  people,  or 
boys  and  girls.    Really  this  sort  of  a  situation  gives  him  the 
best  chance  for  he  has  the  sort  of  people  who  need  leadership 
the  most  and  who  will  often  respond  the  best  to  it.     For 
example,  in  the  shipyard  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made  as  having  such  good  morale,  much  of  the  labor  was 
Negro,  and,  although  many  of  these  Negroes  were  skilled 
workers,  they  were  in  many  cases  ignorant,  yet  they  abso- 
lutely  believed   in   the   Greneral   Manager,   believed    in    the 
"Yard,"  and  were  "behind"  their  superiors  on  any  job  that 
had  to  be  done,  and  the  quality  of  leadership  that  made  this 
possible  came  not  only  from  the  General  Manager  but  ran 
all  the  way  through  the  executive  staif.    For  an  example  of 
one  way  in  which  this  showed,  on  a  morning  when  the  ther- 
mometer was  somewhere  near  zero,  a  group  of  men  had  gath- 
ered around  a  forge  to  warm  themselves,  many  of  them  shiver- 
ing from  the  cold  that  was  very  much  worse  than  anything 
that  they  were  used  to,  for  such  cold  is  very  uncommon  in 
Southern  Virginia.     One  of  the  superintendents  came  along 
and,  as  the  men  saw  him  coming,  some  of  them  hesitated  and 
then  started  to  move  away  from  the  fire  to  go  back  to  their 
jobs.     The  Super  saw  this  and  called  to  them,  "Come  back, 
boys,  and  get  warm  before  you  go  back  to  work,  none  of  you 
shall  work  when  you  are  cold  if  I  can  help  it."    Was  this 


leadership?     Might  not  that  count   some  other  time  in  a 
"pinch"  ?    It  is  worth  discussing  and  thinking  about  anyway. 


B.  INTEREST 


Interest. — ^While  nobody  can  tell  exactly  how  some  other 
fellow's  mind  will  work  under  a  given  set  of  conditions,  ex- 
perience has  shown  that  certain  things  do  affect  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  members  of  any  team  and  among  these  is  what 
is  commonly  called  interest.  We  know  that  if  a  man  is  inter- 
ested in  his  work,  in  his  job  and  in  the  success  of  the  big  job 
of  the  team,  he  will  work  better  and  more  intelligently.  This 
matter  of  interest  is  well  known  to  all  good  teachers  and  they 
use  it  continually  in  getting  their  students  to  do  their  learn- 
ing jobs  better.  It  will  work  just  as  well  in  a  plant  on  pro- 
duction jobs  as  on  learning  jobs,  so  that  it  is  worth  consider- 
ing from  the  standpoint  of  the  use  that  a  foreman  can  make 
of  it  in  discharging  his  managerial  responsibilities. 

What  is  Interest? — In  general,  when  a  man  wants  to  do 
a  good  job  or  wants  a  good  job  done,  we  say  that  he  is 
interested  in  the  job.  If  he  does  not  care  how  the  job  is  done, 
or  how  it  comes  out,  we  say  that  he  is  not  interested,  or  that 
he  is  indifferent.  An  interested  person  is  "alive  on  the  job," 
an  uninterested  person  is  "dead  on  the  job."  An  interested 
worker  "uses  his  head  on  the  job,"  an  uninterested  person 
works  from  "his  shoulders  down."  An  important  general 
cost  element  is  therefore  the  degree  to  which  all  members 
of  the  operating  force,  and  the  foremen  and  other  members 
of  the  team  for  the  matter  of  that,  are  interested  in  their  jobs 
and  in  the  success  of  the  plant. 

Cost  Elements  on  Interest.— Evidently  interest,  as  a  cost 
affecting  element,  runs  all  through  the  human  factor  part  of 
the  foreman's  job.  Practically  any  problem  with  which  he 
has  to  deal,  if  it  touches  men  or  women,  and  does  not  deal 
only  with  dead  things,  such  as  stock,  equipment  or  operations 
and  processes,  as  such,  brings  in  the  matter  of  interest.  Even 
a  partial  list  of  the  possible  cost  elements  on  interest  would 
therefore  include  all  of  those  that  have  been  suggested  in  con- 


816 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


817 


nection  with  human  factors,  and  so  would  be  too  long  to 
repeat  here.  Among  some  of  the  more  important  results  of 
lack  of  interest  are,  however,  the  following : 

1.  Low  production.     (Loafing  on  the  job.) 

2.  Unnecessary  accidents. 

3.  Poor  quality. 

4.  Labor  loss. 

5.  Failure  to  follow  instructions. 

6.  Failure  to  cooperate. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  managerial  problem  here 
is  evidently  to  promote  and  maintain  interest  in  all  possible 
ways  that  fall  within  the  authority  of  a  foreman  and  within 
the  field  of  his  relations  with  his  men. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem— Interest  Factors.* — ^In  order 
to  deal  effectively  with  the  managerial  problems  of  interest, 
it  is  necessary  that  a  foreman  should  know  something  about 
the  causes  of  interest,  or,  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  inter- 
est factors,  and  some  of  the  more  important  of  these  interest 
factors  are  therefore  discussed  before  the  management  side  of 
the  matter  is  taken  up.  One  of  the  most  difficult  managerial 
jobs  that  a  foreman  is  up  against  is  the  development  of  inter- 
est, and  the  degree  to  which  he  can  do  this  successfully 
depends  upon : 

1.  His  knowledge  of  the  different  interest  factors  and 
their  value. 

2.  His  ability  to  use  the  right  interest  factors  under  a 
given  set  of  conditions. 

The  first  might  be  called  "job  knowledge,"  the  second 
"job  skill."  If  he  has  the  knowledge  without  the  skill  he  can't 
do  a  good  job,  and  if  he  has  the  skill  without  the  knowledge  he 
can't  do  much  better :  he  needs  both. 

What  is  Interest.— It  is  evident  that  the  term  interest 
is  used  here  in  exactly  the  same  sense  in  which  we  use  it  in 
every-day  conversation.  For  example,  we  say  that  we  are 
interested  in  the  movies,  and  we  simply  mean  that  we  like  to 

♦  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  interest  and  interest  factors  see  the  com- 
panion book  to  this,  "The  Instructor,  The  Mao  and  The  Job." 


go  and  will  go  when  we  can.  When  we  say  that  we  are  not 
interested  in  the  movies  we  simply  mean  that  we  don't  want 
to  go  and  won't  go  unless  we  have  to.  If  we  are  "interested 
in  politics"  that  merely  means  that  we  want  to  "mix  in"  and 
do  something.  If  we  are  "not  interested  in  politics,"  we  will 
stay  out  if  we  can:  we  won't  "mix  in"  any  more  than  we 
can  help. 

What  are  Interest  Factors? — ^As  the  term  is  used  heffe 
interest  factors  means,  for  interest  just  the  same  thing  that 
cost  elements  means  for  cost.  Just  as  cost  goes  up  or  down, 
according  to  the  way  that  cost  elements  are  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  working  out  a  managerial  problem,  so  interest 
in  any  particular  proposition  goes  up  or  down  according  to 
the  interest  factors  that  come  into  play  in  that  case.  Just 
as  we  may  have  different  cost  elements  in  different  managerial 
problems  and  these  cost  elements  be  of  different  importance, 
so,  in  the  case  of  a  given  managerial  job  on  the  promotion  of 
interest  we  can  have  different  interest  factors  and,  for  that 
case,  some  factors  will  work  better  than  others.  Interest 
factors  may,  therefore,  be  thought  of  as  those  things  that 
affect  a  man's  interest  on  his  job  and  which,  according  to 
their  kind  and  the  degree  to  which  they  are  present  or  absent, 
affect  the  degree  to  which  he  is  interested. 

Kinds  of  Interest  Factors. — ^Just  as  all  cost  elements  can 
be  finally  headed  up  into  time-power-labor-material  loss,  so 
practically  all  interest  elements  can  be  "spotted"  as  being 
one  of  a  few  interest  factors,  among  the  more  important  of 
which  are: 

1.  Ambition. 

2.  Responsibility. 

3.  Job  pride. 

4.  Departmental  and  plant  pride. 

6.    Self-respect. 

6.  Curiosity. 

7.  Fear. 

There  are  other  interest  factors,  but  those  given  above 
are  the  more  common  interest  factors,  or  motives,  that  come 


318 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


819 


'MA 

MIMMiMl . 

iTrTjl 


into  play  in  the  case  of  interest  or  lack  of  interest  in  the  work 
job  or  in  the  job  of  the  team. 

Ambition.— Almost  all  men  have  some  kind  of  ambition  in 
connection  with  their  jobs :  they«want  to  get  ahead,"and  their 
mterest  in  their  job  is  often  largely  affected  by  the  degree  to 
think  that  they  have  a  chance  to  get  ahead.    A  man  without 
ambition  or  who  feels  that  he  has  no  chance  to  gratify  tliat 
ambition,  who  feels  that  "he  never  can  do  any  better"  or  that 
he  will  ''never  have  a  chance"  on  his  job  is  not,  as  a  rule,  as 
interested  m  that  job  as  where  he  feels  that  he  has  a  chance 
even  if  it  is  only  a  chance.    This  feeling  that  there  is  a  chance 
to  get  ahead,  while  not  the  only  important  interest  factor,  is 
a  very  unportant  one,  especially  with  certain  types  of  people, 
and  realization  that  there  was  a  chance  to  get  ahead  has 
often  converted  an  uninterested  man  into  an  interested  one. 
The  recognition  of  the  value  of  this  interest  factor  in 
certam  cases  is  well  illustrated  in  many  advertisements,  not- 
ably in  the  advertisements  of  opportunities  for  improvement, 
such  as  evening  schools,  correspondence  schools,  in  advertise- 
ments for  selling  agents  and  in  the  way  in  which  the  pros- 
pective customer  for  promotional  schemes  "yielding  a  large 
return  on  a  small  investment"  is  appealed  to  in  their  advertis- 
ing literature.    It  is  by  appealing  to  this  interest  factor  that 
the  villain  m  the  story  persuades  the  victim  to  sell  his  bonds, 
or  mortgage  the  old  home,  and  buy  worthless  stocks.    It  is  the 
interest  factor  that  has  recently  been  used  successfully  to 
persuade  people  to  sell  their  Liberty  Bonds  and  invest  the 
money  in  some  more  speculative  business. 

From  the  above  discussion  it  is  evident  that  the  realiza- 
tion by  any  worker  that  the  job  that  he  is  on,  if  done  well, 
will  aid  him  in  accomplishing  something  that  he  wants  to 
accomplish,  as  when  he  feels  that  it  will  *<put  him  in  the  line 
of  promotion,"  either  to  another  better  job  of  the  same 
kind,^  or  to  another  sort  of  a  job,  will  tend  to  promote  his 
job  interest,  and  the  degree  to  which  this  factor  can  be 
honestly  and  truthfully  used  is  an  important  consideration 
from  the  managerial  standpoint  as  regards  interest.     For 


example,  it  was  said  under  Napoleon  First,  "every  soldier 
carried  a  marshall's  baton  in  his  knapsack,"  because  he  knew 
that  the  line  of  promotion  was  open  from  the  bottom 
to  the  top. 

Responsibility. — ^It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  responsi- 
bility rouses  interest.  As  a  rule,  in  proportion  as  a  man  feels 
no  responsibility  for  his  job  he  has  little  interest  in  the  job. 
This  fact  was  touched  upon  in  discussing  leadership  in  the 
preceding  section,  in  mentioning  some  of  the  characteristics 
of  leaders.  The  sort  of  responsibility  referred  to  may  be  of 
two  kinds,  first,  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  job  itself, 
and  second,  a  sense  of  responsibility  as  regards  the  relation 
of  that  job  to  the  job  of  somebody  else.  An  illustration  of 
the  first  kind  of  responsibility  can  be  seen  whenever  a  child 
is  sent  on  an  errand  to  the  grocery,  and  its  mother  says, 
"Now  you  must  be  very  careful  and  get  all  of  these  things." 
Under  these  conditions  the  average  kid  will  be  very  interested 
in  the  job  because  it  has  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  doing 
the  job  right.  An  illustration  of  the  second  kind  of  sense 
of  responsibility  was  in  a  shoe  factory  where  the  amount  of 
defective  material  that  was  run  through  the  different  ma- 
chines was  reduced  after  each  operative  had  been  shown  how 
allowing  a  defective  part  to  come  out  of  his  operation  made 
trouble  for  the  fellow  on  the  next  operation.  All  other  things 
being  equal  when  it  is  possible  to  say  to  a  man,  "There's  the 
job,  it's  your  job,  go  to  it,  all  I  want  is  results,"  his  interest 
will  be  increased,  or  it  will  be  increased  if  he  understands  the 
relation  of  his  job  to  the  jobs  of  the  other  members  of 
the  team. 

The  putting  on  of  responsibility  is,  therefore,  one  way 
of  developing  interest  and  is  one  that  can  often  be 
used  effectively. 

Job  Pride. — ^The  other  day  this  matter  was  taken  up  in  a 
foreman's  conference,  the  discussion  running  along  the  line 
of  the  cost  value  of  warranted  praise.  One  foreman,  as  a 
result  of  that  discussion,  decided  to  try  the  thing  out  a  little 
and,  as  he  went  through  his  department,  to  keep  an  eye  for  a 


8t0 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


chance  to  say  "something  good."  He  happened  to  spot  a 
man  who  was  carrying  on  a  very  difficult  job  of  machine  shop 
work  and,  after  watching  him  for  a  little  while  saw  that  he 
was  doing  a  remarkably  workmanlike  job.  He  said  to  him, 
"Bill,  you're  doing  a  mighty  good  job."  The  man  said  to 
him,  rather  sharply.  "What's  that  you  said?"  "I  said, 
*You're  doing  a  mighty  fine  job.' "  The  man  stopped  his 
machine,  stepped  back  and  said,  "I've  worked  in  this  plant 
for  sixteen  years,  I'm  a  good  mechanic  and  I  know  it:  I 
know  I'm  doing  a  good  job,  but  this  is  the  first  time  anybody 
like  you  has  ever  told  me  so."  This  man  had  job  pride  and 
was  justified  in  having  it,  yet  would  anybody  doubt  that  the 
recognition  of  his  good  work  stimulated  his  interest  in  doing 
a  good  job?  Or  that  he  perhaps  did  a  still  better  job  after 
that  conversation? 

Job  pride  is,  therefore,  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  a  worker 
that  he  can  **hold  down  the  job"  as  well  as  any  other  man. 
He  knows  that  he  knows  his  job  or  knows  his  trade.  A  man 
who  has  job  pride  will  always  be  more  interested  than  a  man 
who  knows  that  he  does  not  know  his  job. 

A  "half  baked"  mechanic  will  never  be  as  interested  in  his 
job  as  a  competent  mechanic,  because  the  "half  baked"  man 
cannot  have  job  pride  and  the  competent  workman  has.  As 
will  be  pointed  out  later,  this  matter  of  job  pride  may  become 
an  important  matter  in  connection  with  certain  managerial 
problems  on  interest. 

Departmental  and  Plant  Pride.— Somewhat  different 
from  job  pride  and  yet  working  along  the  same  lines  is 
departmental  or  plant  pride  as  an  interest  factor.  A  man 
who  is  proud  of  the  department  in  which  he  works,  or  who  is 
proud  of  the  plant  where  he  isi  employed  will  be  more  inter- 
ested in  his  job  than  a  man  who  has  no  departmental  pride 
or  who  feels  that  he  has  no  reason  to  feel  proud  of  his  plant. 
Under  many  conditions  this  interest  factor  can  be  used  very 
effectively  in  arousing  and  keeping  up  interest. 

Self  Respect.— Quite  outside  of  the  matter  of  job  pride 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 

is  that  of  self  respect  as  an  interest  factor,  and  it  is  one  that 
is  too  often  overlooked,  especially  with  certain  kinds  of 
workers.  Any  man  has  some  respect  for  himself.  His  self- 
respect  may  be  along  different  lines  from  those  of  his  supe- 
rior, but  he  has  it,  nevertheless,  and  when  that  self  respect 
is  injured,  even  if  he  does  not  show  it,  his  interest  is  decreased. 
Disregard  of  self  respect  was  rather  a  characteristic  on  many 
American  clipper  ships  in  the  old  days.  The  story  is  told  of 
a  second  mate  who  was  directing  a  man  aloft  on  some  job. 
Noticing  something  out  of  the  ordinary  on  the  job  the  fore- 
mast hand  called  down,  "Mr.  Smith,  I  think,"  and  when  he 
had  got  so  far  the  mate  came  back  with,  "TfetwAr,  if  you  try 
to  think  you'll  have  brain  fever  and  fall  down  on  deck:  do 
as  I  tell  you."  Here  the  man  who  had  shown  some  interest 
was  subject  to  an  attack  on  his  self  respect  that  certainly 
did  nothing  to  increase  his  interest  on  that  job,  and  probably 
on  any  other  job  that  he  had  during  that  voyage. 

In  general,  the  harder  the  "throw  down"  the  greater  the 
loss  of  interest  and  many  supervisors  recognize  this  with  the 
sort  of  people  that  are  like  themselves,  but  forget  that  "dif- 
ferent" people  have  self  respect,  too,  and  in  this  way  often 
reduce  interest  without  knowing  it. 

Curiosity. — ^A  common  illustration  of  the  use  of  curiosity 
to  promote  interest  is  the  clock  in  the  show  window  that  ap- 
parently has  no  works  and  keeps  time,  or  the  ball  that  runs 
round  and  round  without  "any  visible  means  of  support." 
From  the  standpoint  of  interest  on  the  job  curiosity  will 
sometimes  rouse  interest  for  a  while,  as  in  the  case  of 
putting  a  man  on  a  new  job,  or  breaking  in  a  green  man, 
but,  as  a  rule,  it  is  not  a  very  important  interest  factor  in 
industrial  organizations. 

Fear. — ^Fear  of  discomfort  or  suffering  is  often  thought 
to  be  a  very  important  interest  factor,  and  is  often  assumed 
to  be  the  only  one  that  can  be  used.  An  example  of  the  use 
of  fear  as  an  assumed  means  of  arousing  interest  is  the  form 
of  notice  commonly  seen  around  industrial  plants,  threaten- 

21 


322 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


323 


ing  discharge  for  the  failure  to  obey  some  regulation.  For 
example,  on  a  freight  elevator : 

"Any  employee,  except  the  operator,  using  this  elevator 
will  be  immediately  discharged. 

John  Smith, 
Greneral  Manager." 

Here  the  idea  is  that  if  anybody  undertakes  to  "sneak" 
a  ride  on  that  elevator  the  notice  will  scare  him  out  of  the 
notion,  and  everybody  knows  how  such  notices  work  that 
way.    Again,  a  sign, 

•'DANGER.  KEEP  OFF  TmS  TRUCK." 

is  designed  to  frighten  off  anybody  who  starts  to  "jump"  the 
truck  to  save  walking. 

Therefore,  fear  is  often  considered  as  an  interest 
factor,  and  is  used  for  that  purpose  to  a  great  extent  in 
plants,  especially  with  what  are  considered  ignorant  help,  be- 
cause it  is  assumed  that  fear  is  the  only  interest  factor  that 
will  work  in  such  cases,  and  also  because  the  use  of  fear  as 
a  means  of  arousing  interest  is  the  "easy  way"  for  a  super- 
visor to  attempt  to  handle  the  matter. 

While,  as  is  pointed  out  later,  fear  is  one  of  the  least 
efficient  interest  factors  in  many  cases,  its  use  is  so  common 
that  it  must  be  included  in  the  list  of  interest  factors  as 
discussed  later. 

The  .Relative  Values  of  the  Interest  Factors. — ^While  the 
value  of  the  different  interest  factors  that  have  been  just 
discussed  is  undoubtedly  different  for  different  people,  it  is, 
nevertheless  true  that,  taking  things  as  they  run,  these 
factors  can  be  set  up  in  their  order  of  effectivenesSy  or  their 
relative  values,  as  follows :  Ambition,  responsibility,  job  pride, 
self  respect,  departmental  pride,  plant  pride,  curiosity  and 
fear,  and  in  "feeling  around"  to  find  out  what  particular 
interest  factors  will  give  the  best  comeback  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
try  them,  so  far  as  possible,  in  this  order.  That  is,  fear  should 
be  the  last  resort  and  ambition  the  first,with  the  others  coming 
in  between  in  the  order  given. 


The  only  question  might  be  the  order  between  job  pride 
and  self  respect,  and  these  two  run  so  near  together  that  it 
makes  practically  no  difference  which  is  tried  first.  From  the 
standpoint  of  reducing  cost  by  developing  or  increasing  in- 
terest, a  foreman  will  do  a  good  managerial  job  in  proportion 
as  he  can  use  these  interest  factors  in  the  order  named  above, 
and  since  this  is  an  important  matter  a  number  of  these  points 
are  taken  up  in  some  detail  in  the  following  paragraphs,  with 
some  suggestions  to  their  application  to  managerial  problems 
in  this  section  of  the  foreman's  job. 

Comparative  Values — ^Ambition. — ^Where  a  man  has  a 
legitimate  ambition  and  feels  that  that  thing  that  he  wishes 
to  attain  is  possible  of  attainment,  that  he  is  on  the  road  and 
is  progressing  in  the  right  direction,  we  unquestionably  have 
the  strongest  factor  that  can  be  used  in  arousing  and  main- 
taining interest.  If  John  Smith  wants  a  better  job  and  knows 
that  by  securing  certain  additional  training  he  can  get  con- 
sideration when  the  chance  comes,  he  will  be  more  interested 
in  his  present  job  and  will  work  to  get  that  additional  train- 
ing, but  if  he  feels,  or  knows,  that  he  will  get  no  consideration, 
or  sees  no  way  to  get  that  additional  training,  or  cannot  find 
out  what  that  training  should  consist  of,  he  will  not  be  inter- 
ested in  his  present  job.  This  matter  of  ambition  to  attain 
a  definite  aim,  provided  the  aim  is  clearly  defined,  and  the  man 
really  "means  business,"  is  one  of  the  strongest  interest  fac- 
tors known  to  good  managers  in  all  lines  of  work,  and  when 
it  can  be  used  is  the  one  on  which  the  most  effective  interest 
management  can  be  based.  As  an  example  of  the  use  of  this 
interest  as  a  managerial  device  for  promoting  and  sustaining 
interest,  reference  might  be  made  to  the  differing  policy  of 
some  departments  in  the  matter  of  job  promotion.  In  what 
we  may  call  "department  A,"  it  is  understood  that  whenever 
there  is  a  better  job  to  be  filled,  if  there  are  any  members  of 
the  working  force  that  can  hold  it  down,  they  get  the  chance, 
and  only  after  it  is  certain  that  nobody  in  the  department 
can  fill  the  bill  do  they  go  outside.    In  "department  B,"  on 


324 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


S25 


^' 


the  other  hand,  under  the  same  conditions,  the  foreman 
always  looks  outside  for  somebody  for  the  job.  From  the 
standpoint  of  interest  management,  "department  A"  is  doing 
a  better  job  than  "department  B." 

Under  good  conditions  of  interest  management,  given  an 
employee  with  a  known  legitimate  ambition  or  one  in  which 
such  an  ambition  has  been  aroused  by  the  foreman,  the  prob- 
lem of  effective  interest  management  has  been  largely  solved 
if  the  work  of  that  man  can  be  so  arranged  that  it  lines  up  to 
that  aim,  and  the  man  knows  it. 

Of  course,  these  conditions  cannot  always  be  brought 
about,  but  to  the  degree  to  which  this  sort  of  thing  can  be 
done,  use  is  made  of  the  strongest  interest  factor  known 
to  man. 

Ambition  and  Management.— As  has  been  already  sug- 
gested, from  the  standpoint  of  interest,  it  is  good  manage- 
ment to  use  ambition  as  an  interest  factor  wherever  it  can 
be  used  under  the  conditions.  This  can  be  done  in  several 
ways,  among  which  are  establishing  a  general  understanding 
that,  as  a  matter  of  departmental  policy,  so  far  as  the  fore- 
man has  any  recommending,  acting  or  suggesting  responsi- 
bilities, ability  will  be  recognized,  and  actual  evidence  that  it 
is  recognized.  If  all  the  workers  feel  that,  in  the  department, 
"merit  counts,"  and  that  whenever  opportunity  comes  the 
best  man  wins,  interest  is  kept  up.  If  the  workers  feel  that 
when  a  chance  comes,  personal  pull,  or  other  improper  rea- 
sons dictate  any  action  that  the  foreman  may  take,  interest 
will  be  reduced  if  not  killed  entirely.  If  a  man  feels  that  no 
matter  how  good  he  is  on  his  job  and  no  matter  how  hard  he 
may  work  to  fit  himself  for  a  better  job,  he  has  no  chance, 
he  is  going  to  be  looking  for  another  job  instead  of  doing  his 
best  on  the  job  that  he  is  on. 

Where  the  policy  of  "letting  the  best  man  win"  is  in  prac- 
tice, a  foreman  can  often  indirectly  promote  interest  by 
assisting  promising  and  ambitious  men  to  get  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  requirements  of  the  better  job  and  advising 
them  as  to  how  to  go  to  work  to  secure  such  additional  train- 


ing as  will  help  them  to  fit  themselves  for  that  job  when  the 
chance  comes. 

Job  Pride  and  Management.— The  managerial  means  by 
which  job  pride  can  be  appealed  to  as  an  interest  factor  are, 
among  others,  through  recognizing  job  pride  by  seeing  that 
the  working  conditions  are  such  that  a  good  man  can  do  a  good 
job.  Where  a  man  has  job  pride  nothing  injures  it  more 
than  requiring  him  to  work  under  conditions  where  he  can't 
do  a  good  job,  except,  of  course,  where  it  is  understood  that 
there  is  an  emergency.  In  such  a  case  sometimes  a  man's  job 
pride  is  actually  aroused,  as  when  a  good  machinist  has  to 
rig  up  some  sort  of  gadgets  to  get  a  job  done  at  all.  In 
general,  however,  if  any  of  us  have  job  pride  and  are  asked 
to  work  regularly  under  poor  working  conditions  we  cannot 
help  feeling  that  the  job  is  not  considered  as  of  much  import- 
ance and  this  hits  our  job  pride,  and  so  reduces  our  interest. 

Among  the  things  that  a  foreman  can  do,  within  the  limits 
of  his  responsibilities  to  utilize  job  pride  as  an  interest  factor 
might  be  mentioned : 

1.  Seeing  that  good  tools  and  equipment  are  provided. 

2.  Recognizing  good  work. 

3.  Helping  men  to  do  their  jobs  better. 

4.  Giving  helpful  suggestions  rather  than  sharp  criticism 
as  to  the  skill,  knowledge  or  intelligence  required  on  the  job. 

Since  these  points  have  already  been  taken  up  from  other 
angles,  they  are  not  considered  further  here,  but  are  repeated 
to  show  their  value  in  building  up  interest  from  the  angle 
of  job  pride. 

Self  Respect  and  Management. — ^The  managerial  side  of 
the  matter  of  self  respect  is  one  that  is  sometimes  not  fully 
recognized  by  all  foremen.  It  is  really  merely  a  case  of  "put 
yourself  in  the  place  of  the  other  fellow,"  but  this  is  sometimes 
a  somewhat  difficult  thing  to  do,  because  we  do  not  know  the 
other  fellow,  and  so  do  not  allow  for  his  self  respect  as  we 
should  from  the  standpoint  of  interest  management.  Some- 
times things  that  would  not  affect  our  self  respect  will  affect 
his,  and  we  are  totally  unaware  that  we  have  injured  his  self 


326 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK 


327 


respect.     Sometimes  we  do  not  realize  that  he  has  the  same 
sort  of  self  respect  that  we  have. 

In  either  case  we  fall  down  as  interest  managers.  While 
it  does  not  deal  with  self  respect,  a  case  of  the  same  sort  is 
given  in  one  of  Kipling's  stories.  An  Englishman,  in  India, 
had  a  native  servant  who  had  served  him  faithfully  for  a  long 
time.  This  servant  had  a  young  child  and  the  Englishman 
had  frequently  run  across  the  child  playing  in  the  courtyard, 
and,  being  fond  of  children,  had  patted  it  on  the  head  or  given 
it  a  little  piece  of  money,  or  a  sweetmeat.  The  child  died  of 
some  common  disease  and  the  father,  figuring  along  lines  of 
native  superstition,  decided  that  his  master  had  "put  the 
evil  eye"  on  the  child  by  touching  him  and  giving  him  gifts, 
and  so  killed  his  master. 

Among  the  different  sorts  of  self  respect  that  may  have  to 
be  taken  into  consideration  are  racial  pride  and  sometimes 
local  pride.  For  example,  a  man  may  be  as  proud  of  his  race 
as  the  foreman  may  be  of  his,  and  an  Italian  may  resent 
being  called  a  "Ginnie,"  or  a  Frenchman  a  "Froggie"  as  much 
as  an  American  would  resent  being  called  a  "Pig." 

If  a  supervisor  wants  to  avoid  cutting  down  interest  he 
must  be  careful  to  look  out  for  places  where  he  may  run 
against  self  respect  and  fail  to  pay  regard  to  it.  In  general, 
it  never  does  any  harm  to  treat  everybody  with  consideration 
and  ordinary  business  courtesy,  especially  in  dealing  with 
some  one  who  is  under  your  authority.  This  is  especially  true 
because,  in  many  cases,  they  may  not  dare  to  "come  back." 
One  special  case  where  racial  self  respect  may  come  into 
play  is  where  gangs  are  employed  on  jobs.  Under  such  con- 
ditions a  wrong  mixture  of  nationalities  may  not  only  kill 
interest,  the  special  point  under  consideration  here,  but  may 
cause  other  trouble.  Every  foreman  knows  about  such  cases 
and  so  nothing  further  need  be  said  here. 

Curiosity  and  Management. — ^As  a  rule,  a  foreman  can 
make  but  little  use  of  curiosity  in  interest  management  except 
under  some  instructing  conditions  as  taken  up  in  the  chapter 
on  that  subject,  so  that  it  calls  for  no  discussion  here. 


Fear  and  Management. — ^As  a  rule,  this  is  the  most  com- 
monly used  and  the  least  effective  of  all  interest  factors.  It  is 
often  assumed  that  fear  is  effective  in  arousing  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  men,  especially  in  securing  obedience  to 
orders.  A  foreman  will  threaten  to  have  a  learner  "fired"  if 
he  does  not  learn  to  do  a  job  correctly,  or  will  "bawl  out"  a 
man  for  not  knowing  how  to  do  a  piece  of  work  the  first  time 
he  is  put  on  that  job,  or  for  not  following  instruction  cor- 
rectly.   He  fires  one  man  as  an  example  to  the  others. 

The  use  of  fear  as  a  means  for  developing  interest  is  based 
on  the  assumption  that  a  man  who  is  scared  can  think  more 
clearly  or  will  work  better  than  a  man  who  is  not;  this,  of 
course,  can  not  be  true.  A  scared  man  will  probably  run 
faster  or  jump  higher  than  a  man  who  is  not  scared,  but 
under  the  influence  of  fear  a  man  will  not  work  as  intelligently 
or  put  his  mind  as  completely  on  his  job.  His  mental  engine 
is  more  or  less  ^'stalled." 

The  appeal  to  fear  is  most  commonly  used  by  the  inex- 
perienced foreman ;  it  is  the  only  method  he  knows  for  devel- 
oping interest,  hence  the  interest  management  conditions  are 
very  bad.  The  efficient  foreman  will  not  attempt  to  use  fear, 
but  will  use  other  interest  factors  and  will  do  a  much  better 
management  job  in  consequence. 

The  foreman  who  is  quiet,  self-possessed,  and  sympathetic, 
who  everybody  knows  **means  business  all  the  time,"  will  in 
the  long  run  do  a  better  job  than  the  type  of  foreman  who  is 
continually  threatening,  *^awling  out,"  and  stirring  up  his 
force  in  aU  sorts  of  ways.  The  first  tyipe  is  the  modem  type 
of  foreman ;  the  second  the  older  type  that  is  now  passing  out 
of  American  industry. 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS         820 


CHAPTER  XES: 

THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  BLOCK.    COST  ELEMENTS 
AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  MEN- 
TAL ATTITUDE  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE, 
(CONTINUED.)    SATISFACTION 

SECTION   I.    PRELIMINAEY 

Preliminary. — The  third  and,  perhaps,  in  some  ways  the 
most  important  element  affecting  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
members  of  any  team  is  the  degree  to  which  they  are  satisfied 
or  dissatisfied,  and  just  as  any  team  leader  has  managerial 
problems  on  leadership  and  interest,  so  he  has  problems  on 
satisfaction  as  well.  This  chapter  takes  up  satisfaction  in 
the  same  general  way  that  interest  was  considered  in  the 
preceding  chapter. 

As  will  plainly  appear  later  in  connection  with  the  man- 
agement responsibilities  on  satisfaction  which  every  foreman 
has  at  least  to  some  extent,  it  is  very  necessary  to  get  the 
proposition  clearly  "lined  up,"  especially  so  as  to  avoid  con- 
fusion between  satisfaction  and  interest,  because  in  so  many 
cases  the  two  go  together  in  actual  practice,  yet,  if  they  are 
not  *'unscrambled"  in  managing  the  case,  good  results  are 
not  likely  to  be  obtained.  The  first  section,  therefore,  dis- 
cusses satisfaction  in  a  general  way,  especially  as  to  the  dif- 
ferences between  it  and  some  other  things  that  are  sometimes 
confused  with  it ;  following  sections  taking  up  the  "satisfac- 
tion factors"  and  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems. 

What  is  Meant  by  Satisfaction?— The  term  satisfaction 

is  used  here  just  as  it  is  used  in  ordinary  conversation.    We 

know  what  we  mean  when  we  say  that  we  are  satisfied:  we 

mean  that  we  **have  no  special  fault  to  find,"  or  that  we  think 

that  things  are  "all  right,"  so  far  as  the  particular  thing 

that  we  have  in  mind  is  concerned.     When  somebody  says, 

"Have  some  more  pie?"  and  we  say,  "I'm  satisfied,"  we  simply 
328  ^'^ 


mean  that  we  have  eaten  all  the  pie  that  we  want :  so  far  as  pie 
is  concerned  we  are  full.  When  we  say,  "I'm  not  satisfied 
with  that  proposition,"  we  mean  that  there  is,  as  we  see  it, 
something  wrong  about  it. 

Satisfaction,  therefore,  means  with  regard  to  any  par- 
ticular proposition  or  any  special  job  that  the  person  who  is 
considering  that  particular  proposition  or  who  is  on  that 
particular  job,  thinks  that  the  situation  is  as  it  should  be: 
that  it  is  "right." 

Dissatisfaction,  on  the  other  hand,  means  that,  as  the 
person  who  is  on  the  job  looks  at  it,  there  is  something  wrong: 
that  things  ought  to  be  different. 

Satisfaction  vs.  Contentment.— In  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
used  in  this  book  satisfaction  does  not  mean  contentment, 
and  these  two  situations  should  not  be  confused.  A  man 
might  be  satisfied  with  his  job  and  yet  not  be  contented.  If 
he  was  satisfied  with  his  job  he  would  not  "kick"  about  it, 
but  he  might  be  extremely  anxious  to  get  another  job  as  soon 
as  the  chance  came  along,  and  might  even  be  making  special 
effort  to  fit  himself  for  that  job.  He  would  be  satisfied  but 
not  contented.  If  he  were  contented  he  would  not  be  inter- 
ested in  any  other  job.  A  satisfied  man  may,  at  the  same 
time  be  ambitious :  a  contented  man  has  no  ambition  so  far  as 
the  special  point  under  consideration  is  concerned  though  he 
may  have  ambitions  along  other  lines. 

Satisfaction  and  Interest. — It  is  equally  true  that  satis- 
faction does  not  mean  the  same  thing  as  interest.  For  ex- 
ample, it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  a  man  say,  "I'm  satisfied 
with  my  job,  but  I'm  not  particularly  interested  in  it,"  and 
we  know  just  what  he  means  when  he  says  it.  He  has  no  kick 
on  the  job:  he  goes  along  with  it,  but  he  does  not  care  much 
whether  it  is  well  done  or  badly  done,  although  perhaps  a 
small  interest  factor,  like  fear  of  getting  fired,  or  a  sense  of 
duty,  perhaps  a  little  job  pride,  or  self  respect,  makes  him 
do  it  well  enough  to  get  by  with  it. 

Satisfaction  is,  therefore,  a  different  thing  from  interest 
and,  like  interest,  there  are  certain  things  that  affect  it  in 


330 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


lii 


^ffi^p' 


a 


any  given  case  that  we  may  call  satisfaction  factors  j\i8t  as 
we  had  interest  factors  in  the  last  chapter,  and  a  foreman 
who  has  managerial  problems  in  this  part  of  the  human  fac- 
tor block  needs  to  know  something  about  satisfaction  factors 
just  as  much  as  he  needs  to  know  something  about  interest 
factors  or  the  elements  of  leadership.  The  term  satisfaction 
factors  will,  therefore,  be  used  in  the  following  paragraphs 
to  indicate  anything  that  may  cause  satisfaction  or  dissatis- 
faction with  the  job. 

Satisfaction  Factors.— Satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction 
comes  from  a  niunber  of  causes,  many  of  which  are  hard  to 
locate,  so  that  "satisfaction  management"  is  often  a  harder 
job  than  interest  management,  and  calls  for  even  more  man- 
agerial skill  on  the  foreman's  part,  because  dissatisfaction 
often  comes  from  causes  that  are  purely  "notions."  If  these 
"notions"  are,  however,  in  a  man's  head,  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  they  are  real  facts  or  notions,  so  long  as  they  are 
there,  they  affect  satisfaction  with  the  job.  A  good  example 
of  this  is  what  is  said  to  have  been  the  cause  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny.  According  to  the  story  as  it  is  commonly  told,  this 
mutiny  was  caused  by  the  "notion"  that  got  spread  around 
among  the  native  troops  that  the  cartridges  that  were  served 
out  to  them  were  greased  with  pig's  fat  which  their  religion 
forbade  them  to  touch.  This  was  not  true :  according  to  the 
statements  as  made  at  the  time  the  cartridges  were  ffreased 
with  some  other  kind  of  fat,  on  account  of  this  religious 
prejudice,  and  there  was  not  a  grain  of  truth  in  the  notion. 
Nevertheless,  it  caused  the  mutiny,  with  all  its  attendant 
horrors.  The  truth  or  the  falsity  of  the  story  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  resulting  dissatisfaction  that  culminated  in 
the  mutiny. 

For  another  illustration  a  man  may  get  the  notion  that 
"he  is  being  put  upon" :  "is  being  made  the  goat"  when  there 
may  not  be  a  particle  of  truth  in  the  idea.  He  may  even  say 
nothing  about  it,  but  brood  over  the  matter.  So  long  as  he 
feels  that  wav  he  is  bound  to  be  dissatisfied. 

In  dealing  with  problems  on  satisfaction  it  is  especially 


331 


(Ml 


difficult  to  get  at  the  real  situation  because  in  so  many  cases 
it  is  not  a  question  of  the  facts  as  they  really  are,  but  of  an 
imaginary  situation :  that  is,  of  the  situation  as  it  looks  to  the 
man,  and  this  matter  is  often  complicated  by  the  fact  that 
the  man  will  not  tell  how  the  matter  does  look  to  him.  This 
is  one  of  the  cases  where  good  cooperative  relations  between 
the  foreman  and  the  men  helps  a  great  deal.  In  many  cases 
the  case  must  be  handled  on  what  a  lawyer  would  call  "cir- 
cumstantial evidence"  which  amounts  to  saying  that  you  get 
all  the  facts  that  you  can  and  then,  on  the  basis  of  your 
experience,  make  the  best  guess  that  you  can  as  to  the  true 
facts  of  the  case. 

The  Foreman  and  Satisfaction.— Just  as  in  the  case  of 
interest,  under  all  ordinary  conditions,  any  foreman  has 
responsibilities  on  the  managerial  side  of  his  job  that  require 
him  to  deal  with  cases  of  dissatisfaction  more  directly  inside 
of  his  department  but  often,  through  cooperative  responsi- 
bilities, anywhere  in  the  plant.  In  proportion  as  he  can 
recognize  cases  of  dissatisfaction,  knows  the  satisfaction  fac- 
tors and  can  use  them  skillfully,  he  will  be  able  to  improve  the 
mental  attitude  of  the  working  force  by  promoting  satisfac- 
tion and  reducing  dissatisfaction,  and  so  cut  cost,  which  is 
always  his  managerial  job. 

"Dissatisfaction  Factors."— The  foUowing  list  of  "dis- 
satisfaction factors"  is,  of  course,  only  suggestive.  As  in  the 
case  of  interest,  the  question  of  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction 
comes  in  wherever  the  hiunan  factors  come  into  play.  In 
studying  cases  of  dissatisfaction  that  have  been  discussed 
from  time  to  time  in  foremen's  conferences  the  following  have 
often  come  up,  and  might  be  regarded  as  some  of  the  more 
common  and  probable  causes  of  dissatisfaction : 

1.  A  man  thinks  that  he  is  not  getting  "what  is  coming 
to  him"  at  that  time. 

2.  A  man  does  not  think  that  he  is  "getting  a  fair  show." 

3.  A  man  thinks  that  the  working  conditions  are  worse 
than  they  ought  to  be,  or,  if  they  have  to  be  bad  on  account  of 


8S2 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


333 


the  nature  of  the  job  he  thinks  that  proper  allowance  is  not 
made  for  them  by  the  foreman. 

4.  He  thinks  that  he  has  not  a  sufficiently  important  job. 

5.  He  thinks  that  his  job  is  "beneath  him." 

6.  "He  knows  too  much  for  his  job." 

7.  He  dislikes  his  job. 

8.  He  thinks  that  he  is  %eing  put  upon.*' 

9.  He  doesn't  like  the  crowd  that  he  is  working  with. 

10.  He  is  scared  of  the  job  or  thinks  that  he  can't  do  it. 

Discussion. — It  should  be  remembered  that  the  "dissatis- 
faction elements"  listed  above  and  others  of  the  same  sort 
that  may  be  pulled  out  in  discussion  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  facts  of  the  case.  It  is  not  a  question  of  whether  a  man 
is  getting  a  fair  show,  but  that  he  thinks,  or  has  worked  him- 
self into  a  state  of  mind  where  he  thinks  that  he  has  not  a 
fair  show.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  may  be  getting  all  the 
show  in  the  world,  but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  state 
of  mind.  Again,  if  a  man  thinks  that  he  dislikes  his  job  and 
thinks  that  he  wants  another,  it  makes  no  difference  if  the 
job  that  he  is  on  is  the  one  that  he  can  do  best  of  all  the 
different  jobs  in  the  department.  The  matter  of  dissatis- 
faction as  considered  here  is  always  a  question  of  state  of 
mind,  not  a  question  of  the  actual  facts  in  the  case. 

This  dissatisfied  state  of  mind  is  especially  likely  to  come 
up  in  the  case  of  young  employees,  boys  and  girls,  par- 
ticularly in  the  case  of  young  girls,  always,  of  course, 
with  exceptions. 

Satisfaction   Factors  and   "Dissatisfaction   Factors." — 

While  the  real  point  of  all  managerial  dealing  with  satisfac- 
tion is  to  improve  conditions,  as  the  cases  usually  come  up  in 
practice  the  situation  is  one  where  the  man  is  dissatisfied  and 
the  problem  is  to  locate  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction.  The 
following  discussion  is  therefore  based  upon  causes  of  dis- 
satisfaction rather  than  upon  those  making  for  satisfaction, 
that  is,  on  what  may  be  called  "dissatisfaction  factors" 
rather  than  upon  satisfaction  factors  as  discussed  in  the 
previous  section. 


SECTION  n.  COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON 

SATISFACTION 

Preliminary. — ^Where  men  are  dissatisfied,  good  work 
cannot  be  done,  or,  at  least,  as  good  work  cannot  be  done, 
and  under  such  conditions  cost  will  evidently  be  increased. 
A  dissatisfied  team,  whether  their  dissatisfaction  is  justified 
or  not,  will  not  do  a  first  class  job.  Nor  are  the  team  mem- 
bers likely  to  stay  on  their  jobs.  Therefore,  whatever  a 
foreman  can  do  by  action,  recommendation,  or  suggestion, 
to  reduce  dissatisfaction  among  the  members  of  his  working 
force  or  to  prevent  unjustified  dissatisfaction,  is  a  part  of 
his  managerial  job,  and  the  degree  to  which  he  handles 
this  job  with  regard  to  the  cost  elements  and  succeeds  in 
reducing  or  heading  off  dissatisfaction  is  the  measure  of  his 
managerial  ability  in  that  particular  line.  This  section 
takes  up  some  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  in 
this  connection. 

Cost  Elements  on  Dissatisfaction. — ^Among  the  more 
prominent  cost  elements  that  may  come  into  play  in  connec- 
tion with  different  cases  of  dissatisfaction,  that  is,  real  causes 
of  dissatisfaction  are: 

1.  The  degree  to  which  all  men  do  not  get  square 
treatment. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  a  foreman  "plays  favorites." 

3.  The  degree  to  which  all  the  men  do  not  get  considerate 
treatment  all  the  time. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  men  get  **bawled  out,"  especially 
when  they  do  not  deserve  it.  That  is  where  the  foreman  has 
the  habit  of  "going  off  at  half  cock." 

5.  The  degree  to  which  the  foreman  takes  disciplinary 
action  before  all  the  facts  are  known.  (Another  case  of  going 
off  at  half  cock.) 

6.  The  degree  to  which  a  foreman  is  **grouchy." 

7.  The  degree  to  which  a  foreman  sets  a  good  example 
in  dealing  with  the  men. 

8.  The  degree  to  which  a  foreman  has  too  much  dignity 
or  not  enough  dignity. 


884 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


9.  The  degree  to  which  a  foreman  takes  no  interest  in 
his  men. 

10.  The  degree  to  which  a  man  is  really  on  the  wrong  job. 

11.  The  degree  to  which  the  working  conditions  are  really 
bad  or,  if  necessary,  not  taken  into  consideration. 

12.  The  degree  to  which  the  working  group  is  improperly 
made  up. 

13.  The  degree  to  which  the  man  is  really  scared  of 
the  job. 

14.  The  degree  to  which  when  a  foreman  tells  anything 
he  tell  the  truth. 

Of  course,  the  above  are  not  all  the  cost  elements  that  may 
come  into  play  in  all  the  different  cases  of  dissatisfaction,  but 
those  given  are  enough  to  suggest  a  number  of  others  and  to 
form  a  basis  for  conference  discussion  and  thought. 

Where  Dissatisfaction  May  Originate. — On  looking  over 
such  a  list  of  possible  causes  of  dissatisfaction  as  has  just 
been  given,  it  will  at  once  appear  that  dissatisfaction  may 
originate  in  three  distinctly  different  ways  : 

1.  It  may  originate  with  the  foreman  himself. 

2.  It  may  originate  with  the  man  himself. 
8.  It  may  originate  with  the  Management. 

While,  no  matter  where  the  dissatisfaction  originates,  it 
puts  a  managerial  problem  up  to  the  foreman,  nevertheless 
its  origin  affects  the  manner  in  which  hej  must  deal  with  the 
problem,  hence  a  brief  discussion  along  these  lines  may 
be  helpful. 

Dissatisfaction  Originates  With  the  Foreman.— An 
example  of  such  a  case  would  be  where  the  foreman  had 
actually  "  played  favorites,"  or  was  grouchy,  or  inconsider- 
ate, or  used  poor  judgment  in  assigning  workers  to  jobs 
within  his  department.  In  such  cases  it  is  evident  that  the 
whole  matter  of  handling  the  problem  is  within  the  foreman's 
own  control.  "  He  started  it  and  he  can  finish  it."  He  can 
stop  being  grouchy,  he  can  use  better  judgment  in  placing 
men  on  jobs,  he  can  become  more  considerate.     He  can 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


93S 


handle  the  whole  problem  alone  and  handle  it  exactly  as  he 
wants  to.  Nobody  else  need  know  anything  about  it.  Since 
this  is  so,  it  offers,  in  a  way,  the  simplest  managerial  prob- 
lem of  the  three. 

Dissatisfaction  Originates  With  the  Man  Himself.— 
This  would  be  illustrated  by  the  case  where  the  man  thinks 
that  he  is  worth  more  money,  or  that  the  foreman  "  has  it 
in  for  him,"  or  that  he  has  been  unjustly  "  called  down." 
This  state  of  mind  offers  a  much  more  d^cult  managerial 
problem  because  it  makes  no  difference  whether  the  dissatis- 
faction is  based  upon  fact  or  on  imagination.  If  the  man 
thinks  these  things  he  will  be  just  as  dissatisfied  as  if  they 
were  true,  and,  under  most  circumstances,  he  won't  tell  what 
the  matter  is.  Such  cases  therefore  offer  the  most  difficult 
managerial  problems  to  any  supervisor. 

Dissatisfaction  Originates  With  the  Management. — ^An 
illustration  of  such  a  case  would  be  where  the  Management 
had  adopted  a  certain  policy  that  was  sure  to  cause  some 
dissatisfaction  but  which  the  foreman  had  to  carry  out.  For 
example,  in  a  case  of  reduction  of  operating  force  the  policy 
might  be  to  lay  off  all  single  men  before  any  married  men 
were  affected,  or  it  might  be  determined  that  the  best  way 
was  to  put  everybody  on  part  time.  Whatever  the  policy 
adopted,  it  is  evident  that  any  dissatisfaction  that  might 
result  would  originate  in  a  cause  that  the  foreman  could 
in  no  way  control ;  he  must  deal  with  something  that  he  did 
not  start  though  he  must  "  finish  it."  This  sort  of  thing 
of  course  sets  up  a  managerial  problem  that  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  either  of  the  other  cases,  and  offers  in  some 
respects  the  most  difficult  problem  of  the  three. 

Whatever  the  Cause  the  Foreman  Must  Deal  With  the 
Dissatisfaction.— Whatever  the  cause,  the  resulting  dissatis- 
faction will  come  up  to  the  foreman  in  some  form  and  it 
will  be  up  to  him  to  do  what  he  can  to  hold  it  down  to  the 
minimum.     According  to  the  origin  as  just  discussed,  the 


mn 


8S« 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


337 


cases  must  be  handled  very  differently  according  to  how  they 
originated,  so  that  what  has  been  called  here  the  origin  of 
the  dissatisfaction  must  be  taken  into  consideration  before 
starting  to  deal  with  the  problem. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
may  be  stated  as  follows :  To  reduce  dissatisfaction  to  the 
minimum  by  "spotting"  ^uch  cases  as  soon  as  they  develop 
and  taking  the  best  possible  means  to  deal  with  them  so  as  to 
substitute  satisfaction  for  dissatisfaction.  Of  course,  this 
cannot  always  be  done,  but  it  is  what  a  good  manager  will 
always  try  to  do. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— The  following  paragraphs 
take  up  the  cost  elements  just  given  and  suggest  some  ways 
and  means  for  dealing  with  them.  Before  taking  up  the  de- 
tailed discussion,  however,  there  should  be  pointed  out  a 
general  method  of  procedure  for  dealing  managerially  with 
such  cases  by  the  use  of  the  method  of  analysis  of  cases,  as 
is  quite  fully  discussed  and  described  in  the  chapter  on  care- 
lessness on  the  job.  In  general,  there  are  two  possible  causes 
for  dissatisfaction  in  any  given  case:  first,  the  cause  may  be 
due  to  the  foreman  and  the  man  may  be  all  right :  that  is,  the 
fault  may  lie  with  the  foreman ;  second,  the  foreman  may  be 
all  right  and  the  trouble  may  be  with  the  man.  Where  the 
trouble  lies  with  the  man  there  may  be  real  cause  for  dissatis- 
faction or  the  whole  matter  may  be  imaginary.     So  we  have 

as  a  sort  of  a  chart  of  possible  causes : 


A  Real  Cause  for 
Dissatisfaction 

An  Imaginary  Cause 
for  Dissatisfaction 


A  Case  of 

Dissatisfaction 


"The  Foreman's 
Fault" 

The  Man's 
Fault 


The  Job's 
.     Fault 

Now  it  is  evident  that,  in  dealing  managerially  with  a  case 
of  dissatisfaction  the  whole  way  of  going  at  the  problem 
wbuld  be  different  if  it  were  the  foreman's  fault  from  what 


it  would  be  if  it  were  the  man's  fault,  and  if  it  were  up  to 
the  man,  again  the  way  of  going  at  it  would  be  different, 
according  to  whether  the  cause  of  dissatisfaction  were  real 
or  imaginary.  Evidently,  if  the  ways  of  dealing  with  the 
case  were  based  on  the  idea  that  it  was  the  fault  of  the  man 
when  it  was  really  the  fault  of  the  foreman,  or  the  fault  of  the 
job,  the  results  would  not  be  likely  to  be  very  good  and  might 
make  things  worse  instead  of  better.  In  general,  therefore, 
there  are  two  steps,  and  these  two  steps  are  just  what  a  doc- 
tor takes  with  a  patient. 

First,  find  out  the  cause  of  the  trouble  (or  make  the 
diagnosis,  as  the  doctor  would  say). 

Second,  take  the  necessary  steps  to  improve  the  condition. 
(Determinine  the  treatment  and  apply  it,  as  a  doctor 
would  say.) 

The  necessary  steps  are,  therefore,  as  follows  for  any 
human  factor  case: 

1.  Determine  whether  the  difficulty  is  an  interest  dif- 
ficulty or  a  dissatisfaction  difficulty. 

2.  If  it  is  dissatisfaction,  determine  whether  it  is  your 
fault,  the  man's  fault  or  the  fault  of  the  job. 

3.  If  it  is  the  man's  fault,  determine  whether  his  dissatis- 
faction is  due  to  real  or  imaginary  causes. 

4.  If  it  is  the  job's  fault  determine  what  the  matter  is  and 
whether  the  trouble  can,  or  cannot,  be  remedied. 

6.  The  kind  and  cause  of  the  dissatisfaction  having  been 
now  determined,  proceed  to  work  out  ways  and  means  for 
dealing  with  the  problem. 

6.  If  they  don't  work,  "back  check"  and  try  again. 

While,  in  dealing  with  the  human  factors,  nobody  can 
ever  be  sure  where  they  are  going  to  come  out,  the  adoption  of 
some  such  analytic  method  as  is  suggested  above  will  greatly 
reduce  the  chances  of  going  wrong  as  compared  with  the  use 
of  the  straight  "guess"  method.  "The  percentage  of  hits  will 
be  considerably  higher,"  as  is  always  the  case  where  some 
form  of  analysis  is  used  instead  of  the  "guess"  method  in 
working  out  any  problem. 

22 


3S8 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


S39 


The  following  paragraphs  take  up  the  different  cost  ele- 
ments as  given  and  make  some  suggestions  that  may  be  of 
service  in  working  out  problems  on  dissatisfaction  as  a  part 
of  the  foreman's  managerial  job. 

Square  Treatment.— The  value  of  this  cost  element  is  ad- 
mitted by  everybody  but  the  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
IS  not  so  much  a  question  of  a  man's  intending  to  be  square  as 
it  is  the  other  fellow's  believing  that  he  means  to  be  square. 
A  belief  that  a  superior  intends  to  be  square  will  carry  him 
over  many  a  rough  place,  but  "good  intentions"  alone  will 
not  do  it.  The  value  that  subordinates  set  on  square  treat- 
ment was  illustrated  some  time  ago  when  about  one  thousand 
people  who  had  graduated  from  high  schools  several  years 
before  were  asked  to  name  the  teacher  who,  as  they  looked 
back  on  their  school  experience,  had  left  the  strongest  im- 
pression on  them  and  why.  Something  like  ninety  per  cent, 
in  telling  why  they  named  the  teacher  that  they  did,  gave  as 
a  reason:  "He  (or  she)  always  meant  to  give  us  a 
square  deal." 

All  foremen  intend  to  be  "square,"  that  goes  without 
saying,  but  in  the  hurry  and  drive  of  the  work,  unless  a  man 
is  careful  to  stop  and  think,  he  may  forget  to  seem  to  be 
square.  That  is  where,  so  far  as  this  cost  element  is  con- 
cerned, he  may  run  up  cost  due  to  dissatisfaction  that  is  his 
fault,  so  that  the  best  "ways  and  means"  for  "managing" 
in  this  case  is  "Never  be  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  be  sure 
that  you  are  square"  and  get  a  justified  reputation  for  being 
square  that  will  carry  you  over  in  case  you  do  slip  up  as 
anybody  is  liable  to  do. 

"Playing  Favorites."— One  of  the  surest  ways  of  pro- 
moting dissatisfaction  is  to  "play  favorites."  The  problem 
here  is  all  the  more  difficult  because  this  habit  is  often  an 
unconscious  one.  The  playing  of  favorites  works  an  in- 
justice to  everybody  concerned.  Those  who  are  not  favored 
soon  notice  that  they  are  not  and  as  a  result  their  attitude  is 
one  of  **what  is  the  use."  The  ones  who  are  favored  also  soon 
notice  it  and  their  attitude  is  "what  is  the  use,  I  am  in  strong 


with  the  foreman ;  no  matter  what  I  do  it  will  be  all  right." 

The  foreman  who  plays  the  favorites  knows  in  his  own 
mind  that  he  has  no  grounds  for  playing  favorites  and  as  a 
result  of  trying  to  bolster  up  his  false  position  destroys 
more  and  more  any  attempts  at  cooperating  from  the  rest 
of  the  force. 

Showing  Consideration.— Within  the  necessary  limits  of 
getting  the  job  done,  and  with  regard  to  all  other  conditions, 
the  degree  to  which  a  foreman  shows  consideration  in  dealing 
with  his  men  is  an  important  cost  element  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  promotion  of  satisfaction  and  the  development  of 
leadership.  This  does  not  mean  "babying"  men,  nor  does  it 
mean  trying  to  "make  popularity"  by  going  easy,  but,  while, 
of  course,  the  work  has  to  be  done,  there  are  many  things  that 
a  foreman  can  do  if  he  wants  to  do  them  in  the  way  of 
showing  consideration. 

Probably  most  of  these  things  would  be  thought  of  as 
little  things  perhaps  not  worth  considering,  but  in  the  matter 
of  satisfaction  and  interest  little  things  sometimes  count 
more  than  big  things.  For  example,  during  some  very  hot 
spells  certain  stores  notified  all  employees  that  if  they  felt 
the  heat  too  much  they  could  go  home  at  any  time. 

This  was  showing  consideration  as  against  some  other 
stores  that  held  their  employees  through  the  whole  working 
day.  Where  the  working  conditions  were  such  that  men 
had  to  work  in  a  high  temperature  on  a  certain  job,  the 
foreman  made  an  arrangement  whereby  the  men  were  sup- 
plied with  cold  drinking  water.  Many  commercial  establish- 
ments will  show  consideration  for  their  office  employees 
during  hot  weather  by  putting  in  electric  fans. 

Now  all  such  things  as  these  have  a  distinct  cost  reducing 
value  because  they  promote  satisfaction  and  increase  interest, 
because  they  show  the  fact  that  those  in  charge  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  members  of  the  working  force  are  doing  their 
jobs  under  difficulties  and,  after  all,  consideration  simply 
means  doing  something  that  shows  that  we  "appreciate  the 
other  fellow's  troubles."    It  is  a  curious  trait  of  human  na- 


:  -i' 


840 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


ture  that  most  of  us,  if  we  are  working  under  difliculties, 
appreciate  reco^ition  of  that  fact  from  our  superiors  much 
more  if  it  comes  in  the  way  of  something  being  done  about  it 
without  our  having  complained  than  if  we  got  it  by  '^kicking." 

Of  course,  chances  for  showing  consideration  came  up  in 
all  sorts  of  ways  and  the  great  majority  of  foremen  are  con- 
siderate but  in  many  cases  they  have  not  thought  of  consid- 
eration as  a  cost  factor.  They  have  just  shown  consideration 
because  they  are  decent  men,  and  have  done  it  as  a  matter 
of  course.  One  thing  is  certain,  however,  a  reputation  for 
being  considerate  is  a  valuable  item  on  the  plus  side  of  the 
turnover  and  cost  production  records,  although  it  may  never 
appear  as  a  cash  item  on  the  books. 

One  further  point  may  be  worth  bringing  up.  Many 
people  who  have  charge  of  teams  will  say  that  consideration 
is  all  right  for  "intelligent"  people,  such  as  "so  and  so  has" 
but  that  their  people  would  not  appreciate  consideration  if 
it  were  shown  them.  They  are  too  "hard  boiled,"  or  are  "a 
gang  of  ignorant  foreigners"  or  are  "too  stupid"  to  appre- 
ciate anything  of  the  kind.  Of  course,  every  man  knows  his 
own  business  best,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  in  many  cases  such 
people  have  shown  more  appreciation  of  considerate  treat- 
ment than  some  presumably  "more  intelligent"  workers  have 
done.  The  degree  to  which  consideration  counts  with  a  man 
depends  on  what  sort  of  a  man  he  is  and  not  on  the  fact  that 
he  has,  or  has  not  a  college  education,  or  can,  or  cannot 
speak  English. 

The  Value  of  Deserved  Praise.—The  degree  to  which  a 
foreman  recognizes  the  value  of  deserved  praise  is  often  an 
important  factor  in  promoting  satisfaction.  If,  when  we 
have  done  a  good  job,  the  man  for  whom  we  work  tells  us  that 
it  is  a  good  job  any  of  us  will  "feel  better." 

If  any  man  does  a  good  piece  of  work  and  the  foreman 
tells  him  so  it  does  no  harm,  provided  the  job  has  been  well 
done,  and  it  will  increase  satisfaction  or  will  tend  to  keep  it 
up,  perhaps  especially  in  the  case  of  rather  ignorant  workers 
or  in  the  case  of  a  beginner.    Of  course,  this  sort  of  thing 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


841 


can  be  overdone,  but  a  tactful,  observant  foreman  can  do 
much  along  this  line  if  he  studies  his  men  and  finds  out  which 
of  them  "respond  to  treatment"  of  this  kind. 

Criticising  and  Reprimanding. — ^Anybody  who  has  super- 
visory and  managerial  responsibilities  will  have  to  criticise 
and  reprimand,  but  the  way  that  this  is  done  may  have  much 
to  do  with  both  satisfaction  and  interest.  In  the  first  place 
a  reprimand  always  lowers  interest  and  satisfaction.  This  is 
true  of  everybody  because  none  of  us  like  to  be  in  a  position 
where  we  have  to  be  reprimanded  or  punished.  A  helpful 
criticism,  however,  if  rightly  handled,  will  often  increase 
interest  and  satisfaction.  The  managerial  job  as  to  repri- 
manding is,  therefore,  to  get  the  result  for  which  the  repri- 
mand is  given  with  the  least  loss  of  interest  and  satisfaction 
and  to  so  handle  cases  of  criticism  that  interest  and  satis- 
faction are  increased  rather  than  decreased. 

Reprimanding. — ^Where  reprimanding  has  to  be  done 
there  are  some  points  worth  mentioning.  In  the  first  place, 
nothing  will  do  more  to  increase  dissatisfaction  and  reduce 
interest  than  a  reprimand  that  is  undeserved.  Even  if  the 
matter  is  straightened  out  afterwards,  it  leaves  its  effects. 
In  the  second  place,  reprimands,  when  given,  should  be  clear 
and  to  the  point,  covering  at  least  these  points.  What  was 
done  wrong,  why  it  was  wrong,  and,  if  possible,  how  it  should 
have  been  right.  In  the  third  place,  to  make  reprimands 
effective  it  is  not  necessary  to  "throw  a  man  down"  person- 
ally. Sarcasm,  personal  abuse,  "bawling  out"  serve  no  useful 
purpose  and  generally  do  a  great  deal  of  harm  from  the 
standpoint  of  interest  and  satisfaction.  They  are  "expen- 
sive luxuries"  for  any  supervisor  to  indulge  in.  The  situa- 
tion is  worse  when  we  have  the  case  of  a  subordinate  who  can't 
or  dare  not  "  come  back."  This  is,  in  many  cases,  true  of 
foreign  speaking  workers  and  green  men. 

If  a  foreman  can  succeed  in  so  handling  matters  of  neces- 
sary reprimands  (and  there  will  be  cases  where  they  will  be 
necessary)  so  as  to  make  them  effective  and  yet  not  attack 


H 


*"■ 


342 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


843 


the    self    respect    of    his    men    he    will    cut    dissatisfaction 
costs  considerably. 

Criticising. — Criticism  will  help  or  hinder  interest  and 
satisfaction  in  proportion  as  it  is  evident  that  it  is  intended 
to  be  helpful  and  not  a  reprimand  in  disguise.  A  common 
rule  here  is  not  to  criticise  unless  at  the  same  time  you  show 
how  the  thing  can  be  done  better.  This  is  sometimes  called 
constructive  criticism  as  against  destructive  criticism.  Con- 
structive criticism  does  not  make  a  man  feel  "sore,"  but  does 
make  him  feel  that  the  foreman  is  willing  to  take  time  to  show 
him  where  he  is  "off."  Of  course,  it  all  depends  on  the  way 
in  which  it  is  done.  If  criticism  is  put  over  in  the  wrong  way, 
it  can  easily  reduce  a  man's  job  pride  and  produce  a  very  bad 
effect.    Some  points  about  helpful  criticism  are : 

(1)  It  should  be  square. 

(2)  It  should  be  definite — the  man  should  know  exactly 
what  is  wrong. 

(3)  It  should  always  include  definite  instructions  as  to 
how  to  do  those  particular  things  right. 

(4)  It  should  not  be  accompanied  by  any  **bawling  out." 
Taking  Action  Before  all  Facts  are  Known. — This  pos- 
sible case  has  already  been  referred  to.  "Going  off  at  half 
cock"  in  matters  of  disciplinary  action  is  as  unsafe  a  habit  in 
a  foreman  as  it  is  in  a  gun.  If  a  man  is  reprimanded  or  laid 
off  or  fired  on  partial  facts,  on  **snap  action,"  and  it  later  ap- 
pears that  the  action  was  not  justified  a  very  bad  situation 
has  been  created  as  regards  interest  and  satisfaction  not  only 
with  the  man  but  with  the  whole  working  force,  because  an 
injustice  has  been  done  and  everybody  resents  injustice.  Of 
course,  a  few  cases  of  this  kind  may  happen  to  anybody,  we 
are  all  human  and  make  mistakes,  and  when  we  do,  the  only 
thing  that  can  be  done  is  to  straighten  out  matters  as  well 
as  we  can,  but  the  habit  of  acting  on  '*snap  judgment"  is 
another  expensive  luxury.  As  a  habit  it  means  labor  loss, 
dissatisfaction  and  loss  of  interest. 

Having  a  Grouch. — Everybody  knows  what  is  meant  by 
**having  a  grouch."    Sometimes  a  man  is  bom  with  a  grouch 


and  never  gets  over  it  and  sometimes  he  gets  into  a  grouchy 
state  of  mind  for  a  while,  but  whatever  the  cause,  a  grouch 
costs  money.  It  is  still  another  expensive  luxury  for  any 
team  leader  to  have  around.  Nothing  will  do  more  to  create 
dissatisfaction  and  pull  down  interest  than  for  a  foreman  to 
have  a  habitual  grouch,  or  to  act  as  if  he  had  one,  it  makes 
little  difference  which.  In  the  first  place,  if  the  team  leader 
has  a  grouch  the  members  of  the  team  will  quickly  develop 
grouches  too  by  what  an  electrician  would  call  induction  and 
then  everybody  has  a  grouch  and  goes  around  looking  for 
trouble,  and,  of  course,  under  such  conditions,  finding 
it  easily. 

This  is  merely  another  example  of  a  number  of  cases 
where  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  fact  that  the  team  mem- 
bers tend  to  take  their  cue  from  the  team  leader,  so  that  a 
special  obligation  rests  on  him  to  see  to  it  that  any  "cues" 
are  good  ones  and  not  bad  ones.  In  this  case  the  "cap- 
italization value"  of  the  straight,  steady  going  leader  is 
more  than  is  often  realized,  and  this  is  especially  true  as 
regards  grouches. 

Any  man  is  liable  to  suffer  from  a  temporary  grouch :  his 
breakfast  did  not  suit  him,  he  had  a  family  row  just  before 
coming  to  work,  and  he  brings  his  grouch  with  him  on  the 
job.  If  he  is  wise  he  will  leave  it  at  the  gate  because  nobody 
can  tell  how  much  that  grouch  may  set  things  back  in  the 
way  of  morale  and  interest.  In  cases  of  a  bad  grouch  of  this 
kind  it  is  possible  that  really  the  cheapest  thing  for  a  foreman 
to  do  would  be  stay  out  of  the  plant  until  he  was  over  it. 

A  permanent  grouch  is  another  question.  All  that  can 
be  said  here  is  that  a  man  who  regularly  carries  a  grouch 
around  with  him  can  never  become  a  real  leader  and  only  by 
accident  can  such  a  man  become  a  foreman  anyway,  so  this 
point  need  not  be  taken  up  any  further. 

Setting  a  Good  Example.— Mention  has  already  been 
made  in  a  number  of  places  to  the  fact  that  the  members  of 
any  team  take  their  cue  from  the  team  leader  so  that  he  is 
under  a  special  obligation  to  set  a  good  example  in  things 


iiiif. 


m 


844 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


845 


that  count,  such  as  observing  special  safety  precautions, 
obeying  rules  and  regulations,  and  so  on.  A  number  of  illus- 
trations given  in  different  parts  of  this  book  bring  out  this 
pomt  for  special  cases,  so  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  draw 
attention  to  the  general  fact  here.  The  old  seafaring  saying, 
As  the  captain  so  the  ship,"  applies  to  the  case  of  a  fore- 
man and  his  operating  force  just  as  much  as  anywhere  else. 
Many  foremen  do  not  realize  their  influence  in  this  way, 
especially  with  young  and  immature  help,  whose  habits  as  to 
such  matters  are  often  in  process  of  formation. 

No  attempt  will  be  made  here  to  suggest  what  a  foreman 
should  or  should  not  do  in  connection  with  setting  a  good 
example :  that  is  up  to  him,  but  there  is  one  point  to  which  it  is 
worth  while  to  draw  attention.    In  such  cases  most  of  us  tend 
to  look  at  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of  our  own  jobs 
and  not  from  the  effect  of  what  we  do  on  the  state  of  mind 
of  others,  especially  if  we  are  hard  pressed  on  our  own  job. 
For  instance,  take  the  case  of  a  freight  elevator  where  the 
rules  require  that  it  should  not  be  used  for  passenger  work 
A  foreman  is  quite  likely  to  think,  "By  using  this  elevator 
and  saving  the  climbing  of  four  flights  of  stairs  I  can  save 
a  lot  of  time  and  I  am  able  to  take  care  of  myself."    So  he 
breaks  the  rule  for  the  sake  of  his  job  but  forgets  that  some- 
body else  who  knows  that  the  foreman  broke  the  rule  will 
figure  that  he  might  as  weU  break  the  rule,  too,  and  so,  per- 
haps, eventually  there  is  an  accident. 

In  considering  any  given  case  a  foreman  can  generaUy 
ask  himself  this  question:  "If  I  do  this  is  there  a  chance 
that  my  example  will  result  in  cutting  down  morale?"  If  it 
will,  don't  do  it. 

"Dignity."— Some  men  are  afraid  to  be  considerate,  tact- 
ful or  human  because  they  are  "  afraid  of  their  dignity."  In 
some  positions,  fortunately  not  often  in  industrial  plants, 
team  leaders  have  been  told  by  their  superiors  that  they  must 
always  "keep  up  the  dignity  of  their  position."  For  example, 
this  has  been  said  by  the  principals  of  many  schools  to 
teachers.    Just  what  is  meant  by  the  "dignity"  of  the  posi- 


tion nobody  seems  to  exactly  know,  but  in  such  cases  it  must 
be  maintained  at  all  costs.  We  see  this  idea  crop  up  in  such 
statements  as  that  "a  superior  may  make  a  mistake  but  he 
must  never  admit  it,  because  it  weakens  the  dignity  of  his 
position."  Of  course,  this  is  all  foolishness  and  every  real 
man  knows  it.  No  man  can  maintain  his  dignity  unless  he 
has  something  to  maintain  it  on,  and  that  something  must  be 
something  more  than  the  name  of  a  job  or  even  authority,  as 
such,  that  goes  with  that  job.  If  a  foreman,  or  any  other 
team  leader,  is  respected  by  his  team,  deals  with  them  fairly 
and  knows  his  job,  his  dignity  will  take  care  of  itself.  He 
will  have  no  call  to  worry  about  it.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
he  does  not  command  the  respect  of  the  team,  or  if  he  does 
not  deserve  that  respect,  no  exercise  of  authority  will  enable 
him  to  keep  up  the  dignity  of  his  position  because  he  has 
nothing  to  keep  that  dignity  up  on.  It  can  be  safely  said 
that  a  foreman  who  is  on  his  job  as  a  supervisor  and  manager 
has  no  need  to  worry  about  his  "dignity." 

Of  course,  the  above  statement  does  not  mean  that  a 
foreman  should  disregard  the  difference  between  his  job  and 
the  working  jobs  in  his  department,  or  that  he  needs  to  ''play 
up"  to  his  men.  It  does  mean  that  he  is  a  man  working  with 
a  group  of  other  men,  each  man  on  his  own  job,  and  that, 
as  a  manager,  he  will  command  respect  in  proportion  as  he  is 
recognized  as  a  man  and  as  a  man  who  is  on  his  job  just  as 
he  expects  the  men  to  be  on  their  jobs. 

If  a  foreman  feels  that  he  must  continually  be  on  the 
lookout  for  the  protection  of  his  dignity,  he  can  be  quite  sure 
that  that  attitude  is  costing  money  in  terms  of  labor  loss. 
If  he  lacks  the  necessary  respect  of  the  men  he  had  better 
get  it ;  there  is  no  substitute. 

Taking  Interest  in  the  Men. — Some  foremen,  while  fair, 
just  and  efficient,  regard  the  men  only  as  so  many  "hands" 
and  confine  their  interest  to  the  purely  supervisory  side  of 
the  man  relation  field.  In  doing  this  they  neglect  an  im- 
portant cost  element  in  labor  loss.  As  pointed  out  elsewhere 
in  this  book,  a  foreman  stands  in  a  way  as  the  representa- 


11 


S46 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 


347 


t 


tive  of  the  group,  as  the  leader,  as  well  as  the  producer.  He 
can  do  much  by  taking  a  personal  interest  in  his  men  outside 
of  their  purely  working  relations. 

If  Pete  has  a  new  baby  it  does  no  harm  to  know  it  and 
tell  him  so,  but  be  sure  that  you  know  whether  it  is  a  boy 
or  a  girl.  If  Bill  is  in  trouble,  an  offer  of  advice  or  help 
may  do  more  good  than  one  would  think.  For  example,  dur- 
ing the  war  many  foremen  employing  foreign  speaking 
help  undoubtedly  helped  their  men  to  understand  about 
Liberty  bonds  or  advised  men  having  sons  in  the  service  as 
to  allotments. 

While  the  motive  here  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  gen- 
eral interest  that  one  man  takes  in  another  when  he  is  in 
difficulties,  as  a  matter  of  fact  such  evidences  of  interest 
undoubtedly  do  form  one  of  the  strongest  interest  and  satis- 
faction factors  in  many  cases. 

One  point  in  this  connection.  Sympathy  and  interest,  to 
be  of  any  value,  must  be  real.  If  a  team  leader  is  not  really 
interested  in  the  fact  that  Pete  has  a  new  baby,  or  Bill  is  in 
trouble,  he  had  better  not  try  to  put  up  a  bluff.  It  won't  go. 
Unless  the  desire  to  help  is  real  and  the  interest  is  real,  trying 
to  put  across  an  imitation  will  do  more  harm  than  good. 

The  Value  of  Instruction.— In  connection  with  this  mat- 
ter of  showing  real  interest  in  the  members  of  the  working 
force  mention  might  be  made  of  the  value  of  helpful  sugges- 
tions and  instruction.  If  a  worker  is  doing  a  job  as  well  as  he 
knows  how  but  could  do  it  better  if  he  were  given  a  few 
pointers  in  the  right  way  he  will  take  this  as  one  evidence  that 
the  foreman  takes  an  interest  in  him,  and  this  will  be  reflected 
in  an  increased  interest  and  satisfaction.  He  feels  that  the 
foi-eman  thinks  that  "he  is  worth  helping"  and  that  increases 
his  self  respect  and  his  job  pride,  both  of  which  are 
morale  elements. 

Poorly  Made  Up  Working  Group.— It  will  often  happen 
that  dissatisfaction  will  come  about  through  the  fact  that  a 
man  is  working  with  the  wrong  group,  especially  where  the 
job  is  being  carried  on  by  a  team,  as  in  the  case  of  riveting. 


Sometimes  there  are  nationalities  that  do  not  mix  well  on  the 
same  work  team,  sometimes  there  are  other  reasons  but  it  will 
often  happen  that  in  assigning  workers  to  work  teams,  or 
even  to  jobs  where  they  must  work  side  by  side,  attention 
given  to  this  matter  may  help  matters  as  to  satisfaction.  For 
one  example,  a  woman  on  a  job  might  be  working  next  to  a 
man  who  tried  to  annoy  her  in  some  way  and  if  this  situation 
was  not  spotted  it  might  result  in  the  woman  quitting  on 
account  of  that  annoyance.  If  she  was  a  good  worker,  this 
would  mean  replacement  cost  and  so  increased  overhead. 

Since  all  foremen  are  familiar  with  these  matters  they  are 
not  taken  up  any  further,  and  are  only  referred  to  here 
because  they  may  be  important  elements  in  connection  with 
satisfaction  and  interest  and  perhaps  are  not  always  thought 
of  in  that  light  so  much  as  merely  sources  of  trouble  and 
annoyance  to  the  foreman.  They  are  more  important  than 
that,  and  should  in  many  cases  receive  more  careful  attention 
than  they  sometimes  do. 

Man  on  the  Wrong  Job. — It  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
some  jobs  appeal  to  some  people  and  the  same  job  is  very 
distasteful  to  others.  This  point  is  taken  up  in  connection 
with  matching  job  requirements  to  man  qualifications  and  so 
is  not  gone  into  in  any  detail  here. 

It  is  a  point,  however,  that  is  worth  considering  in  con- 
nection with  satisfaction  and  interest  because  a  man  who  is 
in  a  job  that  he  dislikes,  even  although  he  may  stick  to  it, 
is  never  as  satisfied  or  interested  as  he  would  be  on  a  job  that 
appealed  to  him. 

Man  Scared  of  the  Job. — ^Another  cause  of  dissatisfac- 
tion and  loss  of  interest  is  where  a  worker  is  afraid  of  the  job. 
This  case  almost  always  comes  up  in  the  case  of  new  em- 
ployees and  is  taken  up  in  connection  with  instruction,  and 
so  is  only  mentioned  here. 

Telling  the  Truth. — One  other  important  point  in  con- 
nection with  morale  is  the  extent  to  which  a  foreman  has  a 
deserved  reputation  for  telling  the  truth.  His  word  can  be 
depended  upon.    When  he  tells  a  man  that  he  will  take  up 


S48 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


some  matter  that  affects  that  man's  interest  he  does  it.  When 
he  IS  asked  questions  about  what  is  going  to  happen,  say  as 
to  lay-offs  on  account  of  slack  work,  if  he  says  anything  he 
tells  the  truth.  Perhaps  he  doesn't  know,  perhaps  he  can't 
tell,  but  the  worst  thing  that  he  can  do  is  to  lie  about  it. 

Where  any  team  leader  has  not  the  reputation  of  being 
reliable  as  to  such  matters  he  can  be  sure  that  the  team 
morale  is  seriously  impaired.  While  in  many  cases  this  will 
seem  the  easy  way  to  get  out  of  a  difficulty,  in  the  long  run 
it  IS  a  costly  method:  it  doesn't  pay. 


il^ 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  HUMAN  FACTOR.     COST  ELEMENTS  AND 
MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  THE  MENTAL 
ATTITUDE  OF  THE  WORKING  FORCE.    " 

SATISFACTION 

SECTION  I.      PEELIMINASY 

Preliminaiy. — ^The  last  two  chapters  considered  the  three 
chief  elements  that  affect  the  mental  attitude  of  the  members 
of  the  team  leadership,  interest  and  satisfaction.  As  a 
matter  of  actual  practice,  however,  when  "human  factor 
cases"  have  to  be  dealt  with  managerially,  they  are  seldom 
clean  cut,  that  is,  the  case  is  seldom  100  per  cent,  interest  or 
100  per  cent,  satisfaction,  but  is  more  or  less  mixed.  The 
remaining  chapters  on  the  human  factor  discuss  certain  cost 
elements  and  managerial  problems  where  both  satisfaction 
and  interest  may  come  into  play,  this  chapter  taking  up  the 
working  conditions  and  general  surroundings,  the  following 
chapters  dealing  with  management  on  orders,  directions  and 
suggestions  and  with  certain  cases  involving  the  question 
of  the  saving  or  firing  of  men  in  cases  of  failure  to  obey 
orders  or  to  follow  directions,  especially  in  connection  with 
"  carelessness  on  the  job.  ** 

Working  Conditions.— Whenever  a  job  is  to  be  done,  the 
working  force,  the  stock,  the  tools  and  equipment  must  be 
got  together  somewhere^  where  the  job  can  be  done  or  has  to 
be  done.  That  is,  people  must  work  surrounded  by  what  they 
work  on  and  what  they  work  with,  at  the  place  where  the 
job  is  to  be  done.  For  example,  a  logging  crew  must  work 
in  the  woods,  work  with  logs,  work  out  of  doors  and  work 
with  the  special  tools  that  go  with  their  particular  jobs, 
peaveys,  cant  hooks,  axes  and  so  on.  A  train  crew  works  on 
the  track  and  on  the  train,  using  the  special  tools  that  go 
with  their  jobs,  the  crew  of  a  ship  works  on  the  ship,  using 


i4\ 


350 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


SATISFACTION 


351 


the  special  tools  that  go  with  their  jobs  and  so  aU  alone 
the  line.  ^ 

Now  this  "mixture"  of  workers,  tools,  equipment,  place 
where  the  work  must  be  done,  kind  of  stock  worked  upon, 
necessary  hours  and  so  on  make  up  what  is  called,  as  the 
term  is  used  here,  the  working  conditions  on  any  given  job 
or  in  any  one  trade,  and,  of  course,  these  working  conditions 
vary  greatly  for  different  jobs  and  for  different  trades. 

General  Cost  Elements  on  Working  Conditions.— In 
general,  it  may  be  said  that  poor  working  conditions  increase 
cost  and  that  good  working  conditions  decrease  cost  because 
the  nature  of  the  working  conditions  affects  both  permanent 
and  temporary  labor  loss. 

They  affect  permanent  labor  loss  because  poor  working 
conditions  will,  in  the  long  run,  increase  turnover  with  the 
corresponding  discharge  or  "quitting"  cost  and  they  affect 
temporary  labor  loss  because  they  may  result  in  men  being 
off  the  job  for  a  greater  or  less  time  or  in  preventing  men 
from  working  to  the  best  advantage. 

As  in  a  number  of  other  cases,  it  is  only  recently  that  the 
cost  value  of  poor  working  conditions  has  been  fully  under- 
stood and  has  been  made  the  subject  of  careful  study  but  they 
are  now  coming  to  be  regarded  as  some  of  the  most  important 
elements  in  connection  with  the  managerial  problem  of  deal- 
ing effectively  with  the  promotion  of  interest  and  satisfaction 
as  affecting  turnover  and  absenteeism,  and  so  call  for  careful 
consideration  on  the  part  of  any  foreman  whose  responsibility 
lay-out  shows  any  responsibilities  in  this  connection. 

How  Poor  Working  Conditions  May  Affect  Permanent 
Labor  Loss.— Anything  that  takes  a  worker  off  the  job  when 
he  could  be  on  that  job  means  labor  loss,  and  if  it  takes  him 
off  the  job  for  good  it  means  permanent  labor  loss.  There 
may  be  a  number  of  ways  in  which  poor  working  conditions 
may  permanently  separate  the  man  and  the  job.  For  ex- 
ample, if  he  finds  that  no  attention  is  paid  to  making  the 
working  conditions  safe,  he  is  liable  to  quit  as  soon  as  he  can 
find  a  chance  to  work  under  safer  conditions :  if,  as  a  result 


of  an  accident,  he  is  killed  or  permanently  disabled,  his  knowl- 
edge and  skill  are  permanently  lost  to  the  plant.  If  there 
are  special  occupational  dangers,  and  especially  if  he  does 
not  know  exactly  what  they  are  or  just  how  to  protect  him- 
self from  them,  or  if  he  finds  that  the  conditions  under  which 
he  has  to  work  are  especially  dangerous,  owing  to  lack  of 
protection,  he  may  quit  on  account  of  what  may  be  called 
"job  scare,"  especially  if  he  is  a  new  man  on  the  job,  and  feels 
that  all  possible  means  are  not  taken  to  protect  him.  All 
such  reasons  as  those  just  given  and  many  others  tend  to  run 
up  cost  due  to  permanent  labor  loss  because  of  poor  work- 
ing conditions. 

How  Poor  Working  Conditions  May  Affect  Temporary 
Labor  Loss. — ^Not  only  may  poor  working  conditions  affect 
permanent  labor  loss  but  they  may  affect  temporary  labor 
loss  as  well.  For  example,  an  accident  that  might  have  been 
prevented  by  the  use  of  proper  safety  precautions  may  lay 
a  man  off  for  a  time,  or  general  dissatisfaction  or  loss  of 
interest  due  to  poor  working  conditions  may  result  in  in- 
creased absenteeism,  in  either  case  making  for  temporary 
labor  loss. 

How  Poor  Working  Conditions  May  Affect  Work  on 

the  Job. — ^Not  only  may  poor  working  conditions  affect  tem- 
porary and  permanent  labor  loss  but  where  the  worker  stays 
on  the  job  the  quality  or  quantity  of  his  work  may  be  affected. 
Men  cannot  work  to  the  best  advantage  under  such  condi- 
tions as  extreme  heat  or  cold,  or  where  they  cannot  see,  or 
where  they  have  to  work  in  uncomfortable  positions,  or  where 
they  are  afraid  of  personal  injury  and  so  naturally  think 
more  of  looking  out  for  themselves  than  they  do  about  the 
job.  All  such  conditions  prevent  a  man  from  "putting  in  his 
best  licks"  and  to  that  extent  result  in  a  form  of  labor  loss, 
not  because  the  man  is  off  the  job  but  because  he  is  not 
"aU  there." 

The  Foreman  and  Working  Conditions. — Since,  as  has 
already  been  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  chapter,  a  foreman  may 
be  able  to  affect  the  working  conditions  in  his  department, 


i 


1 

I 


S52 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


SATISFACTION 


85S 


-iiP' 


either  by  action,  recommendation  or  suggestion  he  has  super- 
visory responsibilities  and  so  managerial  responsibilities  as 
well.  Not  only  may  he  have  these  responsibilities  for  his  own 
department,  but  in  many  cases  he  would  have  cooperative 
responsibilities  that  might  relate  to  working  conditions  any- 
where in  the  plant. 

Cost  Elements.— The  general  cost  elements  for  poor 
working  conditions  have  been  indicated  in  the  preceding  para- 
graphs: reduced  production,  inferior  quality,  decreased  in- 
terest and  lowered  morale,  and  in  many  cases  increased  acci- 
dent risk.  Of  course,  there  are  others  and  more  detailed  cost 
elements  can  be  analyzed  out  for  any  given  situation,  accord- 
ing to  the  special  character  of  the  plant  and  the  detailed 
nature  of  the  working  conditions,  but  the  above  suggestions 
are  enough  to  indicate  the  general  nature  of  such  studies  as 
can  be  made. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  in 
this  case  is  to  improve  so  far  as  possible  any  working  condi- 
tions that  are  increasing  cost. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Conditions  vary  so  much 
that  only  general  suggestions  can  be  made.  The  methods  of 
analysis  can  be  used  to  advantage  here  as  in  a  number  of 
other  cases  already  taken  up.  The  conditions  that  are  affect- 
ing cost  can  be  determined  first  and  then  such  ways  and  means 
as  are  possible  within  the  limits  of  a  foreman's  job  can  be 
worked  out  and  applied.  In  doing  this  it  will  be  of  assistance 
to  consider  some  of  the  more  common  kinds  of  working  condi- 
tions that  may  affect  costs.    Among  these  are : 

1.  Working  facilities. 

2.  Ventilation. 

3.  Lighting. 

4.  Temperature. 

6.  Greneral  surroundings. 

Working  FacUities.— Only  in  a  few  cases  does  a  worker 
provide  all  his  tools  and  equipment.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
these  are  provided  by  the  plant.  The  extent  to  which  such 
tools  and  equipment  as  are  provided  by  the  plant  are  in  good 


condition  and  there  are  enough  to  go  around,  is  an  important 
element  from  the  standpoint  of  both  satisfaction  and  inter- 
est. For  example,  during  the  war,  in  certain  shipyards  the 
provision  for  supplying  air  under  pressure  was  not  sufficient, 
and  this  resulted  in  an  excessive  turnover  among  the  riveters, 
because  they  could  not  make  a  full  day's  pay  with  the  air 
failing  from  time  to  time  and  seldom  up  to  good  working 
pressure.  A  machine  shop  that  is  noted  for  its  old  and 
worn  out  equipment  will  always  find  difficulty  in  getting  and 
holding  good  workmen.  If  men  are  expected  to  work  with 
inadequate  tools,  or  have  to  lose  time  waiting  for  tools,  or 
the  tools  that  they  have  to  work  with  are  in  poor  condition, 
the  tendency  is  to  drive  the  good  men  out  of  the  plant  and 
also  to  increase  dissatisfaction  and  reduce  interest.  A  plant 
having  a  reputation  for  poor  tools,  "nothing  that  can  be 
used  to  do  a  decent  job  with,"  poor  machine  equipment,  etc., 
will  inevitably  suffer  in  comparison  with  a  concern  that  has 
a  reputation  for  first  class  facilities. 

One  detailed  cost  element  is,  therefore,  poor  working 
facilities. 

Ventilation.— While  in  many  cases  these  conditions  are 
beyond  the  direct  control  of  a  foreman,  as  in  the  case  of  many 
old  plants  where  only  improvement  can  be  through  the  install- 
ing of  a  special  system  of  ventilation,  which  would  lie  outside 
of  the  foreman's  job,  except  possibly  on  a  recommending 
basis,  there  are  other  cases  where  he  can  do  much  to  improve 
conditions.  One  thing  is  sure:  workers  who  have  to  work 
with  their  lungs  full  of  bad  air,  or  in  an  atmosphere  full  of 
particles  of  dust,  will  never  be  able  to  do  first-class  work. 
These  conditions  unquestionably  affect  satisfaction  and  in 
many  cases  interest  as  well. 

One  tendency  of  such  conditions  is  to  prevent  a  sufficiently 
intelligent  and  in  other  ways  desirable  class  of  help  from  tak- 
ing jobs  or,  if  they  have  to  take  them,  staying  on  them  any 
longer  than  they  can  help,  all  of  which  means  increased  cost. 

The  Importance  of  Good  Ventilation. — ^In  many  plants, 
ventilation  is  an  important  factor,  so  much  so  that  it  is  some- 

23 


Sff4 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


SATISFACTION 


SB5 


41; 


44 


times  required  by  law  in  connection  with  certain  occupations. 
For  example,  in  certain  states  there  is  a  legal  requirement 
that  an  exhaust  system  shall  be  connected  with  dry  grindings, 
so  that  the  dust  shall  not  be  breathed  into  the  lungs  of 
the  workmen. 

Cost  Elements. — Among  the  more  important  cost  ele- 
ments are: 

(1)  If  the  ventilation  is  such  that  workers  are  not  prop- 
erly protected  from  injurious  particles  of  dust,  the  ultimate 
result  is  that  they  become  more  or  less  physically  incapaci- 
tated and  we  finally  have  absenteeism  or  permanent  labor  loss 
as  in  the  case  of  accidents.  The  only  difference  between  such 
a  case  as  has  just  been  discussed  and  an  "accident"  is  that  an 
accident  happens  suddenly,  and  cases  of  this  kind  happen 
gradually,  but  the  ultimate  results  are  the  same. 

(2)  Where  the  general  ventilation  is  poor,  men  become 
dopey" ;  their  productive  efficiency  runs  down  with  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  labor  cost  per  production  unit  and  in 
temporary,  or  even  permanent,  labor  loss. 

(3)  Still  another  way  in  which  ventilation  affects  cost 
is  the  fact  that  where  ventilation  is  poor,  turnover  is  in- 
creased inevitably.  A  good  workman  under  poor  conditions 
of  ventilation,  as  a  rule,  will  be  looking  for  a  job  under  better 
conditions,  and  if  he  finds  such  a  job  with  some  other  concern 
he  will  take  it. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  problem  here  is  merely 
to  do  whatever  can  be  done  to  improve  conditions  that  are 
increasing  cost  due  to  poor  ventilation. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Since  this  depends  on  the 
special  conditions  it  cannot  be  taken  up  here  in  any  detail. 

Lighting.— By  lighting  is  meant,  first,  the  general  dis- 
tribution of  light  in  a  plant,  and  second,  the  specific  lighting 
on  necessary  operating  points  whether  the  light  be  natural 
or  artificial  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  shops  in  which 
both  or  one  of  these  conditions  are  bad. 

Cost  Elements.— If  either  the  natural  or  artificial  light- 
ing is  poor,  cost  is  increased  wherever  men  have  to  use  their 


eyes  in  connection  with  their  work.  From  the  standpoint 
of  general  illumination,  if,  for  example,  stairways  are  badly 
lighted  so  that  men  stumble  and  an  accident  occurs,  it  means 
the  same  cost  as  that  due  to  an  accident  arising  from  any 
other  cause.  Men  handling  heavy  pieces  of  stock  under  poor 
lighting  conditions  are  liable  to  injure  themselves  through  not 
being  able  to  see  how  to  handle  things  properly.  In  the  case 
of  the  illumination  of  specific  operating  points,  the  increased 
cost  of  the  failure  to  provide  such  illumination  usually  comes 
out  in  an  increased  amount  of  inferior  work,  but  also  may 
result  in  personal  injury,  as  when  owing  to  poor  lighting,  a 
man  lets  a  tool  slip,  or  puts  his  face  too  close  to  the  work 
to  see,  as  might  happen  in  turning  up  a  short  piece  of  stock 
with  a  dog. 

Another  cost  factor  due  to  poor  illumination  is  one  that 
is  seldom  given  adequate  consideration;  men  working  in 
gloomy,  ill-lighted  shops  are  very  likely  to  suffer  from  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  general  dissatisfaction  which  tends  to  in- 
crease quitting  and  so  increases  loss  dlie  to  this  cause. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  problem  is  to  reduce 
costs  due  to  poor  lighting  of: 

1.  The  department  in  general. 

2.  Special  operating  points. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— In  many  cases  authority  to 
deal  with  lighting  lies  outside  of  the  foreman's  job,  except 
possibly  through  recommendation.  This  is  especially  true 
in  the  case  of  daylight  lighting  in  old  plants  where  the  win- 
dow areas  are  altogether  too  small  according  to  modern  ideas. 
With  artificial  lighting,  however,  many  foremen  can  do  much 
to  improve  conditions.  For  example,  they  can  see  that  all 
operating  points  requiring  special  lighting  are  properly 
lighted,  and,  in  connection  with  this  they  can  make  use  of  the 
job  analysis,  red  flagging  such  points.  It  is  often  within 
their  authority  to  change  or  extend  electric  lights  to  secure 
better  conditions.  Since,  as  a  rule,  lighting  conditions  have 
received  but  little  attention  in  many  shops,  a  foreman 
who  is  interested  in  this  matter  will  usually  find  plenty  of 


i; 


i\ 


85e 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


chance  to  make  improvements  that  will  more  than  pay 
for  themselves. 

Temperature. — Under  certain  conditions,  the  tempera- 
ture may  become  an  important  factor  from  the  standpoint  of 
physical  comfort  and  where  it  can  be  controlled,  it  is  often  a 
cost-cutting  device  to  control  it. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  cost  elements  due  to  physical 
discomfort  due  to  temperature  are: 

(1)  Absenteeism  and  permanent  labor  loss  due  to  physi- 
cal conditions  affected  by  extremely  high  or  low  temperature 
under  which  the  work  is  carried  on. 

(2)  Increased  physical  injury  due  to  abnormal  tempera- 
tures. Generally,  abnormal  temperature  conditions,  either 
very  high  or  very  low,  tires  men  and  tends  to  make  them  care- 
less, with  the  usual  results. 

For  example,  during  the  winter  of  1917-1918  there  were 
certain  periods  of  time  in  which  some  shipyards  were  prac- 
tically unable  to  do  any  work  at  aU,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
men  staid  out  or  quit  because  of  the  extreme  cold.  This,  of 
course,  could  not  be  prevented,  but  it  illustrates  the  fact  that 
men  who  are  working  under  conditions  where  they  are  suffer- 
ing serious  physical  discomfort  from  cold  are  likely  to  stay 
at  home  to  keep  warm,  or  to  seek  other  jobs.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  equally  true  that  high  temperatures  affect  costs. 

For  example,  in  certain  operations  where  the  temperature 
has  to  be  kept  up,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  men  will  avoid 
taking  such  jobs,  and  if  they  do  take  them,  will  leave  them 
as  soon  as  they  can,  which,  of  course,  increases  costs  due  to 
absenteeism  and  turnover. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— As  in  the  other  cases  already 
taken  up. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Conditions  are  practically 
the  same  as  in  the  cases  already  taken  up.  Much  that  might 
be  done  would  lie  outside  of  a  foreman's  job.  In  some  small 
ways  he  can  often  make  the  conditions  a  little  easier.  All 
foremen  who  have  to  deal  with  jobs  of  this  kind  know  what 
they  can  do. 


SATISFACTION 


S57 


Working  Conditions  and  General  Surroundings.— The 
points  taken  up  in  this  section  all  related  to  the  working  con- 
ditions on  definite  jobs. 

It  is  also  true  that  interest  and  satisfaction  are  largely 
affected  by  the  general  surroundings  so  some  matters  in  that 
connection  are  taken  up  in  the  next  section. 

SECTION    n.    GENERAL    SUEEOUNDINGS 

General  Surroundings. — In  addition  to  the  specific  work- 
ing conditions  just  mentioned,  a  number  of  general  working 
conditions  have  a  greater  cost  value  than  is  often  assumed. 

While  these  conditions  would  vary  too  much  according  to 
the  special  nature  of  the  work,  to  admit  of  any  detailed  dis- 
cussions, a  few  general  points  may  be  suggested  to  a  foreman 
who  is  dealing  with  these  matters  managerially  because  he 
considers  that  he  has  a  responsibility  in  their  connection. 

Among  the  more  important  of  these  are : 

1.  Modem  surroundings. 

2.  The  general  condition  of  the  department  or  shop. 
Modem  Surroundings. — ^The  general  idea  discussed  in 

the  preceding  paragraph  also  comes  out  with  regard  to  the 
general  surroundings,  a  modern,  well-built,  up-to-date  plant 
will  unquestionably  attract  and  hold  a  higher  grade  of  men 
than  will  an  old  t3rpe,  dirty,  broken-down  establishment. 
Modern  competitive  methods  can  be  much  more  easily  met 
under  up-to-date  conditions  as  to  equipment,  housing,  etc. 
Although  matters  of  this  kind  are  often  considered  as  being 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  another  department,  there  are  many 
things  that  a  foreman  can  do  through  direct  action  or  recom- 
mendation in  his  own  department  to  improve  these  conditions, 
and  in  proportion  as  he  does  them,  he  reduces  his  production 
cost  through  absenteeism  and  turnover. 

Some  Points  on  Modem  Surroimdings. — ^Among  the 
points  that  may  be  worth  drawing  attention  to  in  connection 
with  modern  vs.  old  type  surroundings  are  the  following: 

1.  Sanitation. 

2.  Physical  comfort. 

3.  A  chance  to  keep  clean. 


S58 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


SATISFACTION 


859 


Sanitation.— The  old  idea  with  regard  to  sanitary  ar- 
rangements was  that  any  dirty,  filthy  place  was  good  enough. 
More  modern  ideas,  however,  have  been  based  on  the  idea  that 
human  factors  count  here  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the  plant. 
Decent  sanitary  arrangements  are  now  held  to  be  a  paying 
proposition  on  account  of  a  number  of  reasons,  among  which 
are  improved  self-respect,  more  plant  pride  and  hence  more 
satisfaction,  with  its  cost  reducing  results.  In  many  of  the 
more  modern  plants  as  much  care  has  been  taken  with  the 
sanitary  arrangements  as  in  some  hotels. 

The  theory  of  this  has  just  been  pointed  out,  but  for 
stating  it  in  a  somewhat  broader  way  it  might  be  put  as  fol- 
lows. In  proportion  as  any  group  of  men  are  treated  like 
human  beings  they  will  act  like  human  beings.  Such  pro- 
vision for  decent  sanitaries,  for  good  wash  rooms  and  for 
locker  rooms,  such  as  is  found  in  many  modern  plants, 
is  based  on  that  theory.  They  are  considered  as  cost 
cutting  propositions. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— As  in  the  other  cases,  the 
managerial  problem  for  a  foreman  is  to  do  what  he  can  to 
improve  conditions  as  to  sanitation.  Of  course,  in  an  old 
plant  he  cannot  do  a  great  deal  in  many  cases,  but  he  can 
at  least  do  whatever  he  can  do  within  the  limits  of  his  job 
to  see  that  things  are  kept  as  decent  as  possible. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— As  just  suggested,  in  most 
cases  a  foreman  cannot,  as  a  rule,  do  much  to  change  things 
very  radically  except  perhaps  through  recommendations,  but 
there  are  some  things  that  he  can  do  within  the  limits  of  his 
job  if  he  feels  that  he  has  any  responsibilities  for  the  sanitary 
conditions  in  his  department.  For  one  thing  he  can  generally 
see  to  it  that  sanitaries  are  kept  clean  and  sweet.  A  coat 
of  mill  white  or  of  whitewash  will  sometimes  improve  matters 
a  lot.  In  many  cases,  if  he  cares  to  take  the  trouble,  he  can 
educate  certain  classes  of  help  to  treat  better  accommoda- 
tions decently.  Much  defacing  of  walls,  obscene  scribblings, 
etc.,  can  be  cut  out  in  many  cases  by  making  the  place  decent 
and  educating  people  to  keep  it  decent. 


The  assumption  that  is  often  made  that  many  classes  of 
help  are  so  naturally  dirty  and  ignorant  that  they  will  not 
respond  to  better  conditions  is  now  regarded  as  incorrect  by 
many  people,  and  a  good  many  concerns  in  recent  years 
have  had  belief  enough  in  the  newer  ideas  to  put  their  money 
into  it. 

Of  course,  but  little  can  be  brought  up  here  except  such 
general  suggestions  as  have  been  made  above.  It  is  up  to 
each  foreman  to  decide  whether  he  has  managerial  and  super- 
visory responsibilities  along  these  lines,  and  if  he  decides  that 
he  has,  he  must  do  whatever  he  can  by  suggestion,  recom- 
mendation or  action  to  improve  matters. 

Physical  Comfort. — ^A  second  change  in  ideas  has  been 
with  regard  to  the  physical  comfort  of  the  operating  force. 
In  the  olden  days  it  was  considered  all  right  for  a  worker  to 
go  home  covered  with  dirt.  "If  he  wanted  to  wash  up,  he 
could  do  it  when  he  got  home."  As  in  the  case  of  sanitation 
the  newer  ideas  hold  that  reasonable  provision  for  comfort 
and  convenience  pays.  More  modern  plants  provide  good 
wash  rooms,  locker  rooms,  cafeterias  where  men  can  eat 
decent  food  in  some  degree  of  comfort.  All  these  things  are 
regarded  now  by  modern  thinkers  along  these  lines  as  good 
business,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  sanitation,  many  concerns  have 
backed  this  idea  with  their  money  in  putting  up  newer  build- 
ings or  additions  to  their  plants. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— So  far  as  a  foreman  has  any 
managerial  problem  here,  it  is  to  do  whatever  he  can  to  help 
to  improve  conditions. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Since,  as  a  rule,  matters  of 
this  sort  call  for  authority  outside  of  the  foreman's  job,  as  a 
rule,  he  cannot  do  much  except  cooperate  with  the  manage- 
ment in  whatever  may  be  done.  In  some  cases  he  can  do  some- 
thing himself.  Some  foremen  have  found  it  possible  to  pro- 
vide some  sort  of  wash  rooms  whert  there  were  none  at  all. 
Some  have  been  able  to  make  a  place  where  men  could  eat 
at  noon  under  better  conditions  than  alongside  the  machines 
or  out  in  the  yard.    They  have,  at  all  events,  recognized  the 


I 


seo 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


modern  ideas  as  to  their  responsibilities  for  taking  care  of 
their  men  and  have  done  what  they  could. 

The  General  Condition  of  the  Shop.-There  is  a  great 
difference  between  different  shop  and  work  rooms  as  to  the 
general  conditions.  Some  shops  are  kept  clean,  neat  and 
orderly:  others  are  dirty,  things  lie  around  "any  old  way." 
They  are  "messy."  As  a  rule,  this  condition  of  neatness  or 
messiness  does  not  seem  to  have  much  to  do  with  the  character 
of  the  work  carried  on.  Some  iron  foundries  are  neat :  some 
departments  m  garment  factories  are  dirty  and  messy  The 
condition  of  shops  in  this  matter  is  largely  a  reflection  of  the 
attitude  of  the  foreman  towards  these  matters. 

Now  a  dirty,  messy  shop  or  department  almost  always 
means  increased  cost  in  a  great  number  of  ways.  It  increases 
danger  of  damage  to  stock:  it  is  liable  to  be  the  cause  of 
excess  depreciation  of  tools  and  equipment.  Such  things  are 
self  evident  It  also  affects  morale.  Ahnost  any  group  of 
workers  wiU  work  better  in  a  place  that  is  kept  fairly  clean 
and  neat. 

Cost  Elements.— The  cost  elements  are  so  evident  here 
that  none  of  them  are  suggested. 

Dealing  with  the  Problcm.-This  again  is  so  plain  that 
It  needs  no  development.  Such  matters  almost  always  fall 
entirely  withm  the  limits  of  a  foreman's  job  and  he  can  have 
a  decent  or  an  untidy  shop  just  as  he  prefers. 

Welfare  Work  vs.  Direct  Cost  Control  Through  Work- 
mg  Conditions.— Nearly  all  industrial  concerns  give  a  good 
deal  of  attention  to  what  is  commonly  called  welfare  work, 
and  It  IS  desirable  that  a  foreman  should  be  able  to  distinguish 
between  what  can  properly  be  called  welfare  work  and  what 
IS  reaUy  "good  business"  from  the  direct  cost  control  stand- 
point. Within  the  last  few  years  more  and  more  attention 
has  been  directed  toward  the  effect  of  the  mental  attitude  of 
men  on  absenteeism  and  labor  loss.  More  and  more  it  has 
been  possible  to  point  out  a  direct  connection  between  certain 
causes  and  their  effects  on  the  mental  attitude  of  the  men. 
For  example,  there  is  to-day  no  question  but  what  decent 
sanitary  arrangements  actually  directly  affect  turnover  and 
that  decent  attractive  wash  rooms  and  locker  facilities  have 


SATISFACTION 


361 


the  same  effect.  Nobody  guesses  now  that  these  things  affect 
turnover.  We  know  it.  There  are  a  good  many  things  which 
people  still  think  have  a  value,  but  where  the  direct  connection 
between  those  things  and  increased  turnover  cannot  be  di- 
rectly shown.  For  example,  an  industrial  concern  puts  in  a 
moving  picture  theater,  the  general  idea  being  that  it  is  going 
to  make  men  more  willing  to  stay  with  the  concern  because  it 
affords  a  means  of  recreation  of  a  good  character.  The  argu- 
ment might  be  something  like  this:  If  these  men  can  go  to 
good  moving  picture  shows  where  they  can  take  their  wives 
and  families,  it  is  going  to  prove  an  additional  attraction  to 
keep  them  in  the  neighborhod,  hence  they  will  be  more  likely 
to  stay  with  the  concern.  Nobody  can  prove  at  present  just 
how  such  a  proposition  affects  the  turnover;  the  reasoning 
appears  to  be  sound,  but  we  have,  for  example,  no  case  on 
record  where  a  man  has  refused  to  change  his  job  because  the 
concern  for  whom  he  was  working  maintained  a  moving  pic- 
ture show.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  a  number  of  other 
activities,  such  as  the  promotion  of  athletics,  development  of 
club-houses,  the  organization  of  a  band  or  orchestra,  or  even 
the  providing  of  certain  forms  of  educational  courses. 

For  the  purposes  of  these  notes,  the  item  Welfare  Work 
will  be  considered  as  referring  to  things  which  are  done  with 
the  general  purpose  of  promoting  the  stability  of  the  work- 
ing force  by  indirect  methods  but  where  the  direct  relation 
of  those  things  to  decreased  turnover  cannot  be  directly  estab- 
lished. Where  the  direct  relation  can  be  shown  such  work 
ceases  to  be  welfare  work  and  becomes  good  business  practice. 
If  a  foreman  has  a  responsibility  in  connection  with  absentee- 
ism and  turnover  and  labor  loss,  he  therefore  has  a  responsi- 
bility for  those  things  which  affect  turnover  and  labor  loss 
as  they  affect  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  working  force.  He 
may  have  an  acting  responsibility,  or  he  may  have  a  recom- 
mending responsibility,  or  he  may  have  both,  but  if  he  entirely 
neglects  this  responsibility  point  so  far  as  good  business 
practice  is  concerned  in  his  own  department  and  so  far  as 
cooperating  with  any  welfare  work  that  may  be  undertaken, 
he  has  to  that  ex^tent  increased  his  production  cost. 


rin 


CHAPTER  XXI 

COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 

ON  ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

AS  HUMAN  FACTOR  ELEMENTS 

Preliminary.— From  the  supervisory  standpoint  the  mat- 
ter of  orders,  directions  and  suggestions  has  already  been 
taken  up  in  Chapters  XIII  and  XIV,  so  far  as  their  use 
as  one  means  of  dealing  with  information  goes.  In  those 
chapters  it  was  stated  that  the  question  of  the  handling  of 
orders,  directions  and  suggestions  from  the  human  factor 
side  would  be  taken  up  in  the  human  factor  block.  This 
chapter,  therefore,  suggests  some  points  in  relation  to  the 
managerial  problem  of  using  these  three  possible  methods  of 
giving  information  to  best  advantage  from  the  human 
factor  side. 

The  Nature  of  the  Problem.— A  foreman  or  other  super- 
visor almost  always  has  a  choice  between  directing,  ordering 
and  suggesting.  According  to  the  degree  to  which  he  makes 
effective  use  of  these  possibilities  he  can  considerably  affect 
human  factor  costs.  Therefore,  he  has  a  managerial  prob- 
lem as  to  choosing  wisely  between  ordering,  directing 
and  suggesting. 

Orders,  Directions,  Suggestions.— Since  these  terms  are 
often  confused  and  in  practice  are  often  used  in  the  same 
sense,  it  is  worth  while  to  point  out  the  distinction  be- 
tween them. 

An  order  is  essentially  a  military  term  and,  strictly  speak- 
ing, implies  implicit  obedience.  Directions  are  usually  given 
to  men  in  connection  with  their  work,  and  the  term  is  dis- 
tinctly civilian.  In  a  production  plant  orders  generally  refer 
to  some  phase  of  administration  executive  work,  as  when  the 
general  manager  orders  that  there  shall  be  no  smoking  in  the 
plant ;  directions  refer  to  operating,  as  when  a  foreman  tells 

S62 


ORDERS.  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


363 


a  man  to  perform  a  certain  operation  a  certain  way.  Both 
terms  carry  with  them  the  implication  of  authority,  but 
orders  mean  more  telling  what  to  do  and  directions  how  to 
do  it.  A  truck  driver  might  be  ordered  to  take  a  load  of 
freight  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York  but  directed  as  to 
his  route  and  method  of  delivery.  In  practice  the  two  terms 
are  often  used  in  the  same  sense,  but  there  is  a  distinction 
worth  bearing  in  mind. 

As  distinguished  from  orders  or  directions,  suggestions 
carry  an  entirely  different  meaning.  A  suggestion  is  made 
under  such  conditions  that  it  "helps  out,"  but  the  person  to 
whom  suggestions  are  made  may  or  may  not  follow  them. 
When  one  man  says  to  another :  "I  would  suggest  doing  it  this 
way,"  the  understanding  is  that  the  man  who  has  the  respon- 
sibility of  doing  the  job,  if  he  adopts  the  suggestion,  does  it 
because  he  thinks  that  it  will  help  him.  He  uses  his  own  judg- 
ment in  adopting  or  rejecting  the  suggestion,  and  he  has  a 
right  to  do  it.  A  man  does  not  give  up  any  responsibility  for 
using  his  own  judgment  by  acting  on  a  suggestion.  When  he 
acts  on  an  order  he  has  no  responsibility  except  to  execute 
that  order  correctly  and  intelligently. 

Knowing  When  to  Use  Orders,  When  to  Make  Sugges- 
tions, and  When  to  Give  Directions.— A  good  manager  uses 
orders,  suggestion,  and  directions  as  tools  to  accomplish  some 
particular  ends  in  getting  managerial  results.  Just  as  for 
some  kinds  of  work  a  good  workman  uses  one  kind  of  a  tool 
and  for  others  he  uses  a  different  one,  a  good  manager  will 
use  an  order  to  accomplish  one  end,  a  direction  or  set  of  direc- 
tions for  another,  and  suggestions  for  another.  By  exercis- 
ing good  judgment  based  on  his  experience  with  men  he  will 
know  which  of  the  three  tools  will  accomplish  the  end  best 
desired ;  and  if  he  has  had  the  proper  kind  of  experience  and 
possesses  the  knack  of  dealing  with  men  from  the  human 
factor  side  he  can  control  the  cost  of  production  which  goes 
with  these  human  factors  as  already  taken  up. 

The  Characteristics  of  Orders.— The  following  can  be 
said  to  be  characteristics  of  an  order : 


364 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


1.  It  clearly  sets  up  and  emphasizes  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  superior  and  the  subordinate. 

2.  It  relieves  the  subordinate  of  any  responsibility  except 
to  carry  out  the  order  as  given,  or  at  least  to  accomplish  ex- 
actly the  results  that  the  order  is  intended  to  accomplish. 

3.  It  keeps  all  final  responsibility  in  the  hands  of  the 
superior.  If,  as  a  result  of  giving  a  wrong  order  that  is 
correctly  and  intelligently  obeyed,  damage  results,  the 
superior  and  not  the  subordinate  is  to  blame. 

The  Characteristics  of  Directions.— The  following  can  be 
said  to  be  the  characteristics  of  a  direction : 

1.  It  does  not  so  sharply  emphasize  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  superior  and  the  subordinate. 

2.  It  implies  that  the  subordinate  is  assumed  to  use  some 
discretion  in  securing  the  intended  results  (doing  the  job), 
provided  the  job  is  done  right. 

3.  It  still  leaves  most  of  the  responsibility  with  the  supe- 
rior but  puts  some  responsibility  onto  the  subordinate  as  to 
just  how  minor  details  are  to  be  carried  out. 

The  Characteristics  of  Suggestions. — Suggestions  are 
quite  distinct  from  either  orders  or  directions.  The  follow- 
ing can  be  said  to  be  the  characteristics  of  suggestion : 

1.  It  does  not  set  up  the  relation  of  superior  and 
subordinate. 

2.  It  puts  all  responsibility  onto  the  subordinate. 

8.  The  superior,  in  making  a  suggestion,  assumes  no 
responsibility. 

Some  Illustrations. — Some  illustrations  may  make  these 
distinctions  somewhat  clearer.  Take  the  case  of  the  mailing 
of  a  letter  from  an  office.  An  executive  calls  the  office  boy 
and  says  to  him,  "Take  this  letter  to  the  post  office  right 
away  and  send  it  by  registered  mail."  That  is  an  order. 
Suppose,  instead,  he  said  to  his  stenographer,  "Miss  Smith, 
will  you  see  that  this  letter  is  sent  at  once  by  registered  mail?" 
That  is  a  direction.  Again,  suppose  that  another  executive 
calls  on  the  phone  and  says,  "Jim,  don't  you  think  that  it 
would  be  a  good  idea  to  wire  that  party  instead  of  writing 


ORDERS.  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


S65 


him.?"  and  Jim  says,  "No,  I'm  going  to  send  him  a  letter  by 
registered  mail,"  that  is  a  case  where  a  suggestion  was  offered 
and  not  acted  upon  by  the  person  responsible  for  getting 
the  job  done. 

In  shops  employing  high  grade  mechanics  it  is  not  un- 
conMnon  for  a  foreman  to  make  suggestions  as  to  how  a  job 
might  be  done  but  it  is  understood  that  the  expert  workman, 
as  the  man  responsible  for  doing  the  job  right,  need  not  use 
those  suggestions  unless  he  approves  of  them.  Under  such 
conditions,  where  the  foreman  was  an  expert  workman  him- 
self before  he  became  a  foreman  there  may  be  a  consultation 
as  to  the  best  way  of  doing  some  job  in  which  suggestions  are 
made  both  ways  without  the  superior-subordinate  thought 
coming  in  at  all.  It  is  just  a  case  of  two  experts  discussing 
a  problem. 

The  Order  of  Progression.— What  may  be  caUed  the 
order  of  progression  as  regards  authority  exercised  by  the 
superior  and  the  distribution  of  responsibility  between  the 
superior  and  the  subordinate  is  as  follows : 

1.  Orders. 

2.  Directions. 

3.  Suggestions. 

The  Managerial  Use  of  Orders,  Directions  and  Sugges- 
tions.— Evidently  in  many  cases  there  can  be  a  choice  between 
the  use  of  orders,  directions  and  suggestions  in  carrying  on 
the  work,  and  if  cost  elements  come  into  play,  cost  can  be 
affected  by  the  degree  to  which,  in  any  given  case,  the  best 
choice  is  made  between  them.  Since  there  is  no  question  but 
what,  at  least  in  many  cases  cost  elements  do  come  in,  this 
point  is  worth  consideration  by  all  foremen. 

Cost  Elements. — Cases  vary  so  much  that  the  cost  ele- 
ments here  are  difficult  to  state  in  any  but  the  most  general 
terms.    Those  most  likely  to  affect  the  situation  might  be : 

1.  Job  pride. 

2.  Self-respect. 

3.  Interest. 

4.  Sense  of  responsibility. 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

from  the  standpoint  of  the  subordinate  and  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  superior. 

The  Managerial  Problem.--The  managerial  problem  may 
be  put  in  this  way : 

To  get  the  job  done  right  using  direct  orders  as  little 
as  possible. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— This  is  entirely  a  matter  of 
judgment.  In  general,  in  proportion  as  a  man's  job  pride, 
his  self-respect  and  his  sense  of  responsibility  can  be  appealed 
to  cost  is  reduced,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out.  The  more 
that  necessary  information  is  put  up  to  liim  in  such  a  way 
that  the  implication  is  that  he  has  no  brains,  does  not  know 
his  job,  can't  be  trusted  and  is  not  assumed  to  have  any 
judgment,  costs  go  up.  On  the  other  hand,  if  jobs  are  not 
done  right,  costs  go  up  still  more.  Dealing  with  this  prob- 
lem is  almost  entirely  a  case  of  using  the  best  judgment, 
taking  the  special  situation  into  consideration,  and  no  rule 
can  be  given.  A  few  points  may,  however,  be  of  sugges- 
tive value. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  whenever  a  superior  substi- 
tutes directions  or  suggestions  for  orders  he  takes  a  certain 
risk  because,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  he  puts  responsibility 
on  the  subordinate.  Some  men,  on  this  account,  never  dare 
to  depart  from  the  practice  of  conducting  all  work  by  direct 
orders.  They  either  do  not  realize  the  cost  value  of  this 
method  of  procedure  or  they  figure  that  this  cost  will  be  less 
than  the  cost  of  work  incorrectly  done.  Other  men  when  they 
think  that  it  is  safe  to  do  so,  substitute  directions  and  even 
sometimes  suggestions  for  direct  orders,  and  figure  that  they 
save  money  by  doing  so.  The  real  managerial  problem  in 
such  cases  is,  therefore,  to  be  able  to  determine  when  it  will 
pay  to  direct  or  suggest  instead  of  order.  This  will  depend 
on  a  number  of  conditions,  some  of  which  are  taken  up  below. 

One  point  that  may  affect  the  situation  is  the  grade  of  the 
job.  In  highly  skilled  trades  the  trade  custom  puts  much 
more  responsibility  on  the  mechanic  than  in  low  grade  jobs. 
Under  such  conditions,  where  the  workman  is  known  to  be 


ORDERS,  DIRECIIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


887 


competent  he  can  often  be  directed  rather  than  ordered,  job 
pride  and  trade  respect  be  promoted  and  no  risk  taken.  It 
is  often  assumed  that  in  the  case  of  low-grade  jobs  this  situ- 
ation never  exists  on  account  of  the  grade  of  the  job  and  of 
the  class  of  workers  employed  on  them.  This  is  true  in  many 
cases,  so  far  as  the  situation  goes,  but  the  reason  as  com- 
monly given  is  not  always  the  true  reason.  But  the  condi- 
tion as  noted  is  due  to  other  reasons,  some  of  which  are 
given  below. 

One  reason  is  that,  in  many  cases,  on  jobs  of  this  char- 
acter, the  workers  have  never  been  properly  instructed :  they 
don't  really  know  their  jobs  and  the  foreman  knows  it,  so  he 
does  not  dare  to  work  except  by  the  use  of  precise  orders. 

A  second  reason  is  that  many  of  these  jobs  are  so  highly 
specialized  that  there  is  only  one  way  of  doing  the  job  any- 
way ;  no  judgment  or  intelligence  comes  in,  so  there  would  be 
no  advantage  in  using  anything  except  orders. 

A  third  reason  is  that  it  is  often  assumed  that  the  class 
of  help  employed  on  this  class  of  work  have  no  job  pride  or 
"trade  pride"  anyway  and  so  there  is  no  use  in  considering 
the  matter  from  that  angle.  This  assumption  is  not  true  in 
all  cases  by  any  means,  but  it  is  often  the  reason  why  a  fore- 
man will  stick  to  ordering  alone  under  such  conditions.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  many  classes  of  help,  under  good 
managerial  conditions,  have  job  pride  and  "trade  pride,"  as 
in  the  case  of  the  shipyard  already  used  for  an  illustration. 

The  General  Condition. — ^This  much  can  be  safely  said : 
Under  ordinary  conditions  directions  rather  than  orders  have 
a  greater  cost  reducing  value  than  is  often  supposed.  Direc- 
tions can  be  used  in  many  cases  to  advantage  instead  of  or- 
ders, where  the  conditions  are  such  that  satisfaction  and 
interest  will  be  promoted  and  the  job  will  still  be  done  right. 
The  information  can  be  conveyed  as  exactly,  and  the  other 
advantages  retained. 

Each  Case  an  Individual  One. — ^In  considering  the  rela- 
tive value  of  orders  and  directions,  each  case  must  be  taken 
by  itself.    For  example,  a  competent  reliable  employee  gets  a 


I', 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

job  that  is  a  little  diiferent  from  those  that  he  has  been 
working  on.  If  he  is  given  orders  as  to  the  necessary  modifi- 
cations, his  job  pride  and  his  "trade  pride"  are  affected,  and 
this  could  be  safely  avoided  by  using  directions  instead.  In 
such  a  case,  "Guess  you'd  better  do  it  this  way,  don't  you 
think,"  will  save  cost  as  against  "Do  it  this  way  and  no 
back  talk." 

The  Matter  of  Suggestions. — ^The  matter  of  the  man- 
agerial use  of  suggestions  brings  up  other  points.  In  general, 
the  less  the  difference  in  authority  and  the  more  the  subordi- 
nate is  assumed  to  be  able  to  do  the  job,  the  more  suggestions 
will  come  in.  For  example,  one  foreman  might  suggest  to 
another  but  he  would  never  order.  Probably  as  between  a 
foreman  and  his  immediate  superior  there  would  be,  under 
good  cooperative  conditions,  a  good  deal  of  suggesting  in- 
stead of  ordering  or  directing. 

The  same  general  situation  would  hold  as  between  a  fore- 
man and  the  members  of  his  operating  force.  With  a  thor- 
oughly competent  man,  proud  of  his  ability,  there  might  be 
many  cases  where  suggestion  would  be  a  good  man- 
agerial device. 

Suggestions  are  the  utility  tool  in  a  manager's  kit  for 
having  certain  things  accomplished  in  regard  to  orders,  etc. 
In  proportion  as  a  foreman  can  suggest  to  his  force  what  he 
wants  in  such  a  way  that  they  feel  that  they  really  are  doing 
something  about  it  themselves,  he  can  get  things  done  much 
more  easily.  These  suggestions  should  be  carefully  handled, 
however,  and  only  made  when  some  actual  need  for  them 
arises.  Indiscriminate  suggestions  can  very  easily  cause  the 
men  to  resent  them,  and  very  often  cause  confusion  where  the 
need  was  for  clear-cut  action.  Only  the  experience  and  judg- 
ment of  the  foreman  will  help  him  in  this  regard,  and  the 
intent  of  these  notes  is  to  direct  his  thought  to  using  sugges- 
tions when  they  will  be  effective. 

In  the  above  discussion  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  tell 
any  foreman  when  he  should  use  directions  or  suggestions  in 
carrying  on  his  work.    He  must  decide  those  points  for  him- 


ORDEBS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

self.  The  general  statements  as  made  may,  however,  have  a 
value  as  suggesting  responsibilities  and  getting  him  interested 
in  this  managerial  problem.  Probably  there  are  no  depart- 
ments where  directions  and  even  suggestions  cannot  be  used  to 
some  extent  in  place  of  direct  orders,  and,  as  a  result,  interest 
and  satisfaction  be  promoted  and,  as  a  result,  cost  reduced. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

PART  VII 

I.EADERSHIF 

1.  A  foreman  is  popular  with  his  men  because  he  is  a 
**  good  mixer."  Does  this  mean  that  he  is  a  good 
leader?  Why? 

2.  A  foreman  is  noted  for  being  quick  tempered  and  for 
"  blowing  up  "  easily  and  often  bawling  out  his  men  when 
they  don't  deserve  it.  He  is  always  sorry  for  it  afterwards 
and  tries  to  straighten  things  out.  Can  he  be  a  good 
leader?    Why? 

3.  A  general  foreman  is  very  arbitrary  in  dealing  with 
his  subordinates.  He  is  the  type  of  man  that  "  wants  no 
excuses."  He  is  square.  Can  he  be  a  leader  for  his 
subordinates  ?    Why  ? 

4.  A  foreman  in  a  certain  plant  was  noticed  as  having 
his  men  continually  coming  to  him  for  advice  about  their 
private  affairs.  He  advised  them  as  to  investing  their 
money,  fixed  up  rows  between  husband  and  wife,  etc.  Did 
this  situation  increase  or  decrease  his  position  as  a  leader 
of  his  men?    Why? 

6.  Can  a  man  be  a  leader  of  his  team  and  be  a  strong 
disciplinarian  ?     Why  ? 

6.  A  certain  foreman  was  noted  as  a  "  driver.**  He 
got  more  work  out  of  his  men  than  any  other  foreman  in  the 
plant  where  he  was  employed.  He  was  absolutely  square, 
in  all  his  dealings  with  his  men  but  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  them  outside  of  plant  business.  Is  he  likely  to  be 
a  leader?    Why? 

S4 


S70 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


871 


7.  If  you  were  talking  with  another  foreman  about  how 
he  handled  his  men  what  would  you  notice  in  deciding  whether 
he  was  or  was  not  a  good  leader?     Why? 

8.  Will  being  "easy  on  discipline"  tend  to  increase 
leadership?    Why? 

9.  A  certain  foreman  is  "  snappy."  All  of  his  orders 
are  given  with  a  "  punch."  He  accepts  no  excuses  for  poor 
work  if  it  is  the  fault  of  the  man  but  is  ready  to  take  the 
blame  if  he  is  to  blame.  He  never  "  passes  the  Buck  "  to  a 
man  when  things  go  wrong  and  he  is  called  on  the  carpet 
for  it.    Could  such  a  man  be  a  good  leader?    Why? 

10.  Will  being  personally  familiar  with  workmen  inter- 
fere with  good  leadership?    Why? 

11.  Can  a  foreman  who  does  not  plan  his  work  in  advance 
be  a  good  leader?    Why? 

12.  Can  f\  man  who  is  not  personally  known  to  his  men 
make  a  good  leader?    Why? 

13.  Would  you  say  that  a  team  was  well  or  poorly  led 
in  the  following  cases  ? 

a.  The  members  of  a  team  never  know  how  the  fore- 
man is  going  to  come  back  on  a  slip.  One  day  he  says : 
"All  right,  don't  do  it  again,"  the  next  day  he  may 
raise  a  big  row  about  the  same  thing.  Does  this  indicate 
good  leadership? 

b.  The  men  have  no  confidence  in  the  foreman;  it 
is  common  talk  among  them  that  "Bill  never  knows 
what  he  is  going  to  do  next."  What  sort  of  leader- 
ship is  indicated  here? 

c.  The  men  feel  that  all  the  foreman  wants  of  them 
is  to  get  the  last  ounce  of  work  out  of  them. 

d.  The  men  say  among  themselves :  "  Its  no  use 
going  to  the  foreman  about  anything,  you  never  get 
anything  but  a  call  down." 

e.  A  man  comes  up  to  a  foreman  and  says :  "  How 
should  this  job  be  done?"     The  foreman  comes  back 


with  "Well,  how  do  you  think  that  it  ought  to  be 
done?"  They  have  a  discussion  on  it.  Under  the  same 
conditions  the  foreman  tells  the  man  just  how  the  job 
should  be  done.  Which  condition  indicates  the  best 
leadership  conditions?    Why? 

f.  An  emergency  comes  up  and  the  foreman  evi- 
dently does  not  know  just  what  to  do  because  he  has 
not  planned  to  deal  with  that  special  emergency  because 
it  has  never  happened  before.  (This  might  be  a  prema- 
ture explosion  in  dynamiting  a  furnace.)  The  result 
is  a  great  deal  of  confusion,  aimless  running  about,  etc. 
What  conditions  as  to  leadership  are  indicated  here? 

g.  Men  say  among  themselves  that :  "  It  don't  make 
a  bit  of  difference  whether  you  make  a  special  effort  to 
do  a  good  job  or  not;  the  foreman  never  knows  if 
you  do.'* 

h.  In  the  gang  of  a  certain  foreman  the  men  are 
continually  trying  to  get  transfers  to  jobs  that  are  no 
better  in  some  other  department.  Does  this  indicate 
that  the  foreman  in  question  is  a  poor  leader? 

i.  On  an  emergency  job  it  is  necessary  to  push 
especially  hard.  Then  men  resent  this  and  lav  down 
on  the  job  as  much  as  they  can  without  being  caught. 
Does  this  indicate  poor  leadership? 

INTEREST  AND  INTEREST  FACTORS 

WHAT  INTEEEST   FACTORS   COME  INTO   PLAY  IN  THESE   CASES? 

1.  A  teacher  tells  a  boy  that  if  he  doesn't  study  his  les- 
sons he  will  not  get  promoted. 

2.  Anyone  trespassing  on  this  property  will  be  prose- 
cuted according  to  law. 

3.  Anyone  defacing  the  walls  of  this  sanitary  will  be 
immediately  discharged. 

4.  Piecework. 

6.  A  profit-sharing  plan. 

6.  A  ball  in  a  show  window  that  runs  round  and  round 


972 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


i'"i' 


without   any  visible  connection  with  anything  under   the 
glass  plate  on  which  it  runs. 

7.  A  plant  athletic  team. 

8.  Calling  a  man  into  consultation  on  how  a  job  is  to 
be  done. 

9.  Putting  up  a  prize  for  the  department  having  the 
fewest  number  of  accidents. 

10.  On  the  Santa  Fe  R.  R.  giving  a  flag  to  the  section 
having  the  most  clean  and  good  looking  stations. 

11.  Firing  a  man  for  impertinence. 

12.  Hanging  a  man  for  murder. 

13.  Giving  a  chromo  with  a  pound  of  tea. 

14.  Posting  pictures  of  the  result  of  not  using  guards 
on  machines. 

16.  Setting  up  the  production  records  of  different 
departments  on  a  public  bulletin  board. 

16.  Bawling  a  man  out  in  public  for  a  mistake  in  follow- 
ing directions, 

17.  Taking  a  new  man  through  the  department  where 
he  is  to  work  and  giving  him  a  general  idea  of  the  different 
jobs  that  are  carried  on  in  that  department  before  he  is 
started  in  training  on  the  job  that  he  is  to  work  on, 

18.  In  some  plants  it  is  the  custom  to  close  the  gates 
when  the  whistle  blows  and  not  open  them  for  fifteen  minutes 
so  that  a  man  who  is  tardy  from  one  to  fifteen  minutes  is 
docked  for  fifteen  minutes.  What  interest  factor  is  used  here? 

19.  In  one  large  shipyard  the  Greneral  Manager  makes 
it  a  point  to  always  know  of  any  particularly  good  piece  of 
work  and  to  personally  praise  it  to  the  men  who  did  it. 
What  interest  factor  comes  into  play  here? 

20.  How  might  departmental  pride  be  utilized  as  an 
interest  factor  by  a  foreman  who  knew  how? 

THE  MANAGERIAL  HANDLING  OP  INTEREST 

1.  A  foreign  born  workman,  recently  come  to  this  coun- 
try, is  taken  on  and  put  onto  a  job.     He  speaks  only  "  shop 


ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


878 


English."  His  work  is  poor  because  he  does  not  seem  to 
give  enough  attention  to  the  details  of  putting  his  job 
over  in  good  shape.  He  has  been  properly  instructed.  He 
seems  willing  and  his  general  qualifications  seem  to  fit  well 
to  the  job  requirements.  Physical  condition  reported  as  all 
right.  How  would  you  go  at  this  case  to  promote  interest? 
What  interest  factor  would  you  try  first?  Why?  If  that 
failed  what  interest  factor  would  you  try  next?    Why? 

Would  it  be  economy  to  keep  this  man  on  the  job  and 
try  and  rouse  his  interest  or  to  transfer  him  to  another  job 
or  fire  him?    Why? 

2.  A  man  has  been  employed  for  a  year  an  one  job 
and  has  been  doing  fair  work.  His  physical  condition  is 
good  but  he  seems  to  have  lost  his  interest.  He  is  known 
to  have  told  other  men  that  the  plant  was  a  "bum  plant 
to  work  for  "  and  that  the  foreman  was  no  good.  He  listens 
to  the  foreman  when  reprimanded  but  goes  on  in  the  same 
uninterested  way.  How  would  you  handle  this  case?  Should 
an  attempt  be  made  to  save  this  man  to  the  plant  or  should 
he  be  got  rid  of  under  normal  conditions ?  Why?  If  it  were 
decided  to  try  and  save  him  what  interest  factors  should  be 
tried  out  first?  Why?  The  man  is  a  Russian  who  has  been 
in  the  country  ^\e  years  and  speaks  good  English. 

3.  A  gang  of  men  have  developed  the  habit  of  knocking 
off  before  the  whistle  blows.  They  have  been  good  workmen 
up  to  this  time.  They  all  speak  fair  English.  There  has 
been  a  recent  wage  cut  in  the  plant.  How  would  you  attempt 
to  handle  this  case  along  interest  lines?  What  interest  fac- 
tor would  you  try  first?  Why?  Would  it  be  good  business 
to  try  and  arouse  interest  in  this  case?    Why? 

4.  A  story  gets  around  the  plant  that  there  is  going  to 
be  another  cut  in  wages  but  that  only  the  workmen  will  be 
cut.  How  could  the  interest  reducing  effects  of  such  a  rumor 
be  counteracted  if; 


974 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


975 


a.  The  cut  was  to  apply  to  everybody  in  the  plant. 

b.  The  rumor  was  not  true. 

c.  It  was  true  as  reported. 

In  cases  a,  b,  and  c  what  interest  factors  could  be  best 
used  and  how  could  they  be  used  to  the  best  advantage? 

5.  It  is  desired  to  cut  out  obscene  scribbling  in  the  sani- 
taries  which  has  become  an  epidemic.  How  would  you  deal 
with  such  a  case?  What  interest  factors  would  you  try  and 
use  first?    Second?    Why? 

6.  A  shift  is  made  from  piecework  to  day  work  in  the 
case  of  certain  men.  As  a  result  their  production  falls  off 
since  they  feel  that  there  is  no  more  fori  them  on  good  than 
on  poor  production.  How  deal  with  such  a  case?  What 
interest  factors  should  be  tried  and  in  what  order?  Just  how 
would  you  use  these  interest  factors  in  this  case? 

7.  A  man  thought  he  was  sure  of  being-  transferred  to  a 
more  desirable  job  but  somebody  else  got  it  when  the  time 
came.  No  promises  had  been  made  and  in  fact,  this  man  had 
no  real  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  to  get  the  job.  As  a 
result  he  becomes  uninterested,  tells  other  men  that  there  is 
no  us  in  trying  for  a  better  job  anyway,  and  falls  off  in  his 
own  work.  Normally  he  is  a  good  man,  American  bom,  and 
has  been  employed  in  the  plant  for  ten  years.  Is  it  worth 
while  to  try  and  get  him  interested  again?  Why?  How 
would  you  go  at  it?  What  interest  factor  would  you  use 
first  in  this  case?    Why? 

8.  A  man  was  heard  to  say  to  other  men  "  It  don't  make 
any  difference  to  us  whether  we  turn  out  more  or  less  prod- 
uct. Our  pay  goes  on  just  the  same  and  the  less  that  we 
do  the  more  jobs  for  the  gang."  The  man  is  an  old  employee 
and  has  been  a  good  worker.  How  deal  with  this  case? 
What  interest  factor  could  be  used  to  the  best  advantage 
here?    Why? 

9.  A  man  has  been  a  good  worker  and  suddenly  his  inter- 
est in  his  work  seems  to  drop  off.  He  gives  no  reason  for  it 
when  asked  what  the  matter  is.    Some  days  before  this  hap- 


pened he  was  in  a  row  with  the  foreman  over  some  small 
matter  relating  to  the  quality  of  the  work  that  he  was  turn- 
ing out  and  the  foreman  had  told  him  that  a  man  of  his 
intelligence  and  experience  ought  to  know  how  to  do  a  good 
job.  What  might  be  the  cause  of  this  falling  off  in  inter- 
est? How  might  it  be  dealt  with  on  this  supposition?  Why 
deal  with  it  in  that  way?  Should  the  policy  adopted  in  this 
case  be  to  save  the  man  to  the  plant  or  to  get  rid  of 
him?    Why? 

10.  How  would  you  go  to  work  to  secure  a  greater  inter- 
est in  holding  up  quality  with  a  gang  of  men  who  were  old 
employees  and  who  knew  how  to  do  a  good  job?  Why  would 
you  use  the  method  that  you  give?  What  would  be  the 
interest  factors  that  you  would  use?  Why  use  these  par- 
ticular ones? 

11.  The  quality  on  a  certain  set  of  operations  falls  off 
with  no  change  in  the  make-up  of  the  gang.  The  foreman 
tells  all  the  men  that  unless  the  quality  comes  up  they  will 
all  lose  their  jobs.  Is  this  the  best  way  to  treat  such  a 
case?    How  could  it  be  handled  any  better?    Why? 

12.  What  are  some  of  the  ways  by  which  a  foreman 
can  cut  down  interest  without  knowing  it? 

13.  How  can  dissatisfaction  be  distinguished  from  lack 
of  interest? 

14.  A  new  man  has  made  a  good  start  but  has  gone  to 
pieces.  Says  that  he  cannot  hold  down  the  job.  He  is  all 
right  physically  and  is  well  fitted  for  the  job.  How  would 
you  deal  with  such  a  case  if  the  man  were  American?  If 
foreign  bom?    If  a  new  arrival  in  this  country? 

15.  In  what  ways  can  the  personality  of  a  foreman 
affect  the  interest  of  his  men?  Is  a  foreman  who  is  a  good 
mixer  likely  to  get  and  hold  more  interest  than  one  who 
is  not?    Why? 

16.  A  man  has  no  evidence  that  he  has  any  qualities  that 
would  fit  him  to  hold  down  a  better  job  that  is  in  the  line 
of  his   work.     Under  such  conditions  should   a  foreman 


376 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


ORDEBS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


877 


111^ 


encourage  him  to  try  to  fit  himself  for  the  better  job  on 
the  chance  that,  under  the  spur  of  ambition,  he  may  develop 
such  additional  qualities  that  he  can  fit  himself  for  the 
job?    Why? 

17.  A  foreman  in  a  certain  plant  had  told  a  man  that 
if  he  would  leave  his  present  job  and  come  in  with  that  plant 
he  could  get  a  job  with  him  at  a  certain  rate.  After  this 
man  had  thrown  up  his  old  job  the  foreman  found  that  he 
had  promised  the  man  a  rate  that  was  higher  than  he  could 
pay  and  that  was  higher  than  a  number  of  old  workmen  on 
the  same  job  were  getting.  It  was  an  honest  mistake  on 
the  foreman's  part.  How  should  this  case  be  handled  so  as 
to  reduce  dissatisfaction  to  the  minimum  all  around? 

ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

1.  A  foreman  in  making  his  rounds  notices  that  a  man 
is  trying  to  handle  a  piece  of  stock  that  is  too  heavy  to 
handle  alone  and  not  have  a  chance  of  breakage.  He  says 
to  the  man,  "  That  piece  is  too  heavy  for  you  to  handle 
alone,  get  somebody  to  help  you."  Anything  the  matter 
with  that  order? 

2.  A  man  right  out  of  the  Ford  factory  is  employed  in 
a  Ford  service  station  which  also  takes  other  makes  of  cars. 
A  Dodge  comes  in  with  a  broken  drive  shaft.  The  foreman 
orders  this  man  to  take  out  the  broken  shaft.  Is  that 
order  all  right? 

3.  A  man  has  been  employed  as  a  helper  on  a  job  and 
18  promoted  to  a  worker  on  that  job.  When  he  goes  onto 
the  job  for  the  first  time  the  foreman  simply  tells  him  to 
**go  to  it."     Is  that  foreman  taking  any  chance? 

4.  What  is  the  easiest  way  in  which  a  foreman  can  fall 
down  in  giving  an  order? 

5.  A  man  has  been  employed  as  a  riveter  in  structural 
steel  work.  He  was  a  good  man  on  the  job.  During  the 
war  he  was  taken  on  by  a  shipyard.    The  first  day  that  he 


went  to  work  the  foreman  ordered  him  to  *'  rivet  up  those 
intercostals."     Anything  the  matter  with  that  order? 

6.  A  man  has  been  employed  in  a  cabinet-making  shop 
for  several  years.  He  is  a  fine  workman.  He  is  given  a 
very  fine  piece  of  cabinet  work  to  do  that  calls  for  doing 
a  job  that  he  never  has  happened  to  strike  before  and  which 
calls  for  a  dovetail  joint  where  the  ordinary  method  would 
be  to  use  a  half  lap  joint.  The  foreman  knows  this.  Which 
would  be  the  better,  to  say,  "  Bill,  make  that  joint  with  a 
dovetail"  or,  "Bill,  don't  you  think  that  joint  had  better 
be  made  with  a  dovetail?"  As  a  matter  of  manage- 
ment?   Why? 

7.  What  is  liable  to  be  the  effect  of  a  direct  order  on  a 
competent  workman?     Why? 

8.  Can  directions  be  made  as  clear  as  direct  orders? 
Why? 

9.  A  foreman  gives  the  following  order.  "  One  of  you 
men  get  that  box  out  of  that  truck."  If  there  is  some 
delay  whose  fault  is  it? 

10.  A  man  is  quite  new  on  the  job.  The  foreman  sees 
him  handling  a  piece  of  stock  in  such  a  way  that  there  is 
danger  of  breakage.  The  foreman  says,  "  Don't  break 
that!"  What  is  the  matter  with  that  order?  If  the  piece 
was  broken  who  would  be  to  blame? 

11.  A  truck  load  of  material  is  properly  marked  for 
delivery.  The  foreman  orders  the  driver  to  deliver  it  "  as 
marked."  The  driver  fails  to  deliver  it  where  it  should  be 
delivered.    Who  is  to  blame? 

SATISFACTION 

1.  One  man  in  a  group  is  really  entitled  to  a  higher  rate. 
The  foreman  has  the  authority  to  recommend  rate  changes. 
He  refuses  to  act  in  this  case  because  he  considers  that  an 
increase  in  rate  in  the  case  of  this  man  would  cause  dissatis- 
faction in  the  case  of  others  on  the  same  jobs.  Is  this  good 
management?    Why? 


ill 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

2.  A  plant  is  located  at  a  Uttle  distance  from  a  large 
citj.  It  wishes  to  hold  the  operating  force  and  therefore 
puts  up  a  movie  theater.  What  satisfaction  factor,  if  any, 
was  mtended  to  be  brought  into  play  here?  Was  this  good 
management  ?    Why  ? 

3.  A  foreman  has  the  reputation  of  recommending  trans- 
fers  to  better  jobs  on  the  basis  of  taking  care  of  people  that 
he  likes.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not,  would  it  affect  satis- 
faction among  the  members  of  the  working  force.  Assuming 
that  It  was  not  true  how  could  such  a  situation  be  effec- 
tively handled? 

4.  A  man  is  suspected  of  stealing  and  is  accused  in  pri- 
vate, he  denies  the  charge.  It  subsequently  appears  that 
another  man  stole  the  material.  Would  this  affect  satis- 
faction?   How  could  such  a  situation  be  best  dealt  with? 

6.  Are  you  of  the  opinion  that  any  transfers  to  more 
desirable  jobs  should  be  based  strictly  on  merit  and  that  this 
pohcy  should  be  a  matter  of  general  knowledge?    Why? 

6.  In  a  heating  room  where  the  temperature  ran  around 
90  degrees  a  foreman  saw  to  it  that  the  men  had  ice  water 
on  tap  all  the  time.  He  did  not  pay  for  the  ice  water  but  did 
do  the  work  of  collecting  ten  cents  a  week  from  each  man  and 
^mg  that  the  ice  was  delivered,  pail  and  cup  provided,  etc. 
Was  this  better  management  from  the  standpoint  of  satis- 
faction than  getting  the  plant  to  provide  the  ice  water 
free?    Why? 

7.  A  new  man  has  trouble  in  getting  his  job  right;  a 
foreman  sees  that  he  is  in  trouble  and  takes  special  pains'to 
instruct  him.  Would  this  promote  interest  or  satis- 
faction?   Why? 

8.  Of  two  foremen,  foreman  A  takes  pains  to  instruct 
a  new  man  so  completely  the  first  time  that  when  he  is  put 
onto  his  own  he  can  do  a  first-class  job  from  the  start. 
Foreman  B  on  the  contrary  gives  enough  instruction  to  give 
a  general  idea  as  to  how  the  job  is  done  and  then  picks  up 
the  loose  ends  as  the  man  goes  along  on  his  own.    Which  of 


ORDERS,  DIRECTIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


S70 


these   two   methods   is   likely  to   produce   the   more   satis- 
faction?   Why? 

9.  In  your  opinion  is  quitting  of  good  men  caused  more 
by  lack  of  interest  or  dissatisfaction? 

10.  Could  a  foreman  get  good  interest  and  still  have 
much  dissatisfaction?    How? 

11.  Which  is  the  more  difficult,  to  secure  interest  or  to 
secure  satisfaction?    Why? 

12.  How  could  you  tell  whether  a  man  was  dissatisfied 
or  uninterested? 

13.  What  is  the  effect  of  a  piece  of  plant  gossip  as  to 
a  reduction  of  force  on  interest?  On  satisfaction?  Which 
will  it  affect  most?    Why? 

14.  In  your  opinion  which  will  make  for  the  more  satis- 
faction, good  tools  and  machines  with  an  old  type  building, 
poor  sanitary  arrangements,  no  wash  rooms,  etc.,  or  a  build- 
ing of  modem  type,  good  wash  rooms,  etc.,  but  worn  out 
equipment  and  poor  tools? 

15.  Does  the  operating  of  a  restaurant  by  a  plant  which 
sells  the  food  at  a  loss  promote  more  satisfaction  than 
where  the  food  is  sold  at  a  high  enough  price  to  pay 
expenses?    Why? 

16.  A  certain  plant  has  secured  a  building  and  has  fitted 
it  up  as  a  club-house  for  its  employees.  The  plant  has  borne 
the  expense  of  this  but  the  club  has  dues  and  is  supposed  to 
pay  its  own  running  expenses.  Another  plant  suggested  to 
its  employees  that  a  club-house  might  be  a  good  thing  and 
told  them  that  if  they  wanted  to  form  a  regular  incorporated 
club  and  build  a  club-house  on  a  bond  issue  the  Company 
would  underwrite  the  bonds.  Which  method  is  likely  to 
promote  more  satisfaction  and  which  would  tend  more  to  keep 
the  turnover  down?     Why? 

17.  In  your  opinion  will  poor  tools  and  equipment  create 
more  dissatisfaction  with  men  working  on  a  piece  rate,  on 
a  bonus,  or  on  standing  pay?     Why? 

18.  A  foreman  comes  into  his  department  with  a  grouch 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

on  and  as  a  result  finds  fault  with  some  work  that  is  good 
enough  to  be  accepted  and  which  he  has  accepted  before. 
Will  this  affect  interest  or  satisfaction? 

19.  Is  concealed  dissatisfaction  more  likely  to  exist 
among  some  foreign  born  people  that  among  American 
born  people?    Under  such  conditions  what  can  a  foreman  do? 

20.  Several  good  men  quit  within  a  few  days  of  each 
other  and  when  asked  for  a  reason  merely  say  that  "  they 
thought  that  they  would  change  to  another  plant."  The 
jobs  that  they  have  been  on  are  not  bad  jobs  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  in  shifting  to  another  plant  they 
will  be  getting  any  higher  rate.  What  would  you  do  in 
such  a  case? 

21.  The  equipment  in  a  department  is  in  such  bad  shape 
that  the  men  cannot  do  a  good  job  with  it  and  are  dissatis- 
fied with  reason.  The  foreman  tries  to  get  things  improved 
but  is  told  by  the  G.  M.  that  the  financial  conditions  are 
such  that  no  money  can  be  put  into  repairs  or  replacements ; 
the  department  must  get  along  as  well  as  it  can.  How 
should  such  a  case  be  dealt  with? 


PART  vm 

THE  DETAILED  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  TEAM 

RELATIONS  BLOCK 

(COOPERATION) 


ll 


CHAPTER  XXII 

SPECIFIC  AND  DETAILED  RESPONSIBILITIES  ON 

COOPERATION 

A.    COOPERATIVE    EESP0NSIBILITIE8 

Preliminary. — This  chapter  takes  up  a  number  of  the 
more  probable  cooperative  responsibilities  that  a  foreman 
may  find  on  making  a  responsibility  lay-out  for  his  job.  Of 
course,  there  are  no  cases  where  a  foreman  has  no  cooperative 
responsibilities,  but  whether  the  particular  ones  taken  up  in 
this  chapter  come  into  his  job  is  a  matter  for  him  to  decide. 
Of  course,  chances  for  cooperating  will  present  themselves 
all  the  time  to  any  man  who  wants  to  cooperate,  while  the  man 
who  does  not  want  to  do  so  will  never  see  any  chance  at  all. 

Such  possibilities  as  are  taken  up  here  are  therefore  to 
be  regarded  as  given  merely  for  their  suggestive  value. 

Some  of  these  possible  responsibilities  are  taken  up  in 
the  following  paragraphs. 

What  is  Meant  by  Cooperation.— Everybody  knows,  in  a 
general  way,  what  is  meant  by  cooperating  and  yet  the  term  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  define.  It  might  be  expressed  by  saying 
that  we  cooperate  when  we  "help  the  other  fellow  out  when 
we  don't  have  to,"  that  is,  cooperation  lies  outside  of  the 
duties  that  are  defined  and  required.  As  the  term  is  used 
here,  we  might  say  that  cooperation  means  going  outside  of 
the  strict  line  of  duty  to  help  somebody  else  for  the  general 
good  of  the  team. 

Cooperative  Responsibilities.— What  is  cooperation^ 
Cooperation  means  working  together  and  therefore  means 
working  for  the  general  object  for  which  any  group  is 
brought  together.  As  already  stated,  it  means  "team  play" 
as  contrasted  with  "playing  a  lone  hand."    Since  any  fore- 

S83 


884 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


man,  as  repeatedly  stated  in  this  book,  is  a  member  of  a  team, 
he  cannot  play  a  lone  hand  and  do  his  full  duty.  The  follow- 
ing paragraphs  deal  with  some  possible  cooperative  responsi- 
bilities on  the  foreman's  job.  The  corresponding  cost  ele- 
ments and  managerial  problems  are  discussed  in  the 
next  chapter. 

Cooperation  Works  Both  Ways.-€ooperation  works 
both  ways  in  the  sense  that  any  member  of  the  organization 
can  cooperate  with  any  other  members.  A  foreman  can 
cooperate  with  the  working  force  and  the  working  force 
can  cooperate  with  the  foreman.  In  fact,  whenever  two 
or  more  people  get  together  to  put  anything  across  we 
have  cooperation. 

While  it  is  true  that  cooperation  can  come  about  between 
any  two  members  of  the  "team"  or  between  any  number  of 
members,  the  majority  of  the  more  common  specific  coopera- 
tive responsibilities  can  be  classified  under  the  follow- 
ing heads: 

(1)  Cooperation  with  Greneral  Superiors. 

(2)  Cooperation  with  Immediate  Superiors. 

(3)  Cooperation  with  Other  Foremen. 

(4)  Cooperation  with  the  Working  Force. 

(5)  Securing  cooperation  from  the  Working  Force. 

(6)  Cooi)erating  with  special  departments. 

These  are  considered  under  the  above  classification  headings 
in  the  foDowing  paragraphs : 

B.    COOPEEATIVE    EESPONSIBILITIES   WFTH    GENERAL    SIJPERIOBS 

Giving  Plant  Information.— One  of  the  most  important 
ways  in  which  a  foreman  can  cooperate  with  the  General  Man- 
agement is  by  seeing  that  a  considerable  amount  of  what  may 
be  called  "plant  information"  is  correctly  passed  on  to  the 
members  of  the  departmental  working  force.  For  example,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  new  employees  coming  into  the  plant 
are  left  to  find  out  as  well  as  they  can  where  they  get  their 
pay,  whether  it  comes  in  checks  or  in  cash,  how  often  pay- 
ment is  made,  where  pay  checks  can  be  cashed,  and  so  on.    If 


RESPONSIBIUTIES  ON  COOPERATION 


985 


lunch  rooms,  baths  or  other  special  comfort  provisions  are 
provided  new  employees  can  be  told  what  they  are  and  where 
they  are.  If  there  is  free  medical  service,  or  a  hospital  in  the 
plant  where  free  medical  attention  can  be  secured,  information 
as  to  where  and  when  such  service  can  be  secured  would  be 
another  form  of  "plant  information"  that  a  foreman  can  pass 
along,  and,  according  to  the  special  conditions  as  they  exist 
in  a  given  plant,  a  large  number  of  such  items  of  "plant 
information"  can  be  passed  out  to  new  men  and,  in  addition, 
from  time  to  time  various  items  of  plant  information  can  be 
passed  out  to  the  whole  departmental  working  force. 

By  making  a  practice  of  doing  this,  a  foreman  can  coop- 
erate in  a  very  effective  way  with  the  General  Management 
and  where  there  are  opportunities  to  do  it,  this  specific 
responsibility  should  be  included  in  the  specific  responsi- 
bility lay-out. 

Not  "Knocking."— One  way  in  which  any  foreman  can 
cooperate  with  the  General  Management  is  by  not  "knock- 
ing." As  a  member  of  the  "team"  it  never  does  any  good  to 
knock  the  team  or  any  part  of  it,  especially  if  the  "knocker" 
is  in  a  supervisory  relation  to  other  members  of  that  team, 
and  they  hear  the  knocking. 

In  most  cases  this  sort  of  thing  does  not  mean  anything 
except  a  temporary  "blow  up"  on  the  part  of  the  foreman, 
but  if  he  feels  that  he  has  responsibilities  to  the  Management 
he  will  be  careful  not  to  "blow  up"  with  regard  to  the  short- 
comings of  the  "Office"  on  the  floor  of  the  shop,  or  any- 
where else,  where  he  can  be  heard  by  the  members  of  the 
operating  force. 

All  foremen  in  their  actual  practice  realize  the  undesir- 
ability  of  this  sort  of  thing,  and  it  is  spoken  of  here  chiefly 
because  most  foremen,  while  they  do  not  knock  the  manage- 
ment in  public,  at  least,  do  not  think  of  this  item  as  a  co- 
operative responsibility  and  leave  it  out  of  their  detailed 
lay-out  unless  their  attention  is  especially  called  to  the  mat- 
ter. Of  course,  this  is  a  responsibility  that  goes  with  the  job 
of  every  member  of  the  team,  including  the  foreman. 

£5 


S8d 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


RESPONSIBILITIES  ON  COOPERATION 


387 


"Standing  Up  for  the  Plant."— Another  way  in  which  a 
foreman  can  cooperate  with  the  General  Management  is  by 
standing  up  for  the  plant,  at  least  in  public.  Even  though 
he  feels  that  the  plant  is  the  "poorest  equipped  in  town,"  or 
that  the  conditions  are  "rotten,"  or  that  the  machinery  has 
"died  of  old  age"  and  all  the  other  things  that  do  exist  in 
many  plants,  if  he  feels  a  cooperative  responsibility  to  the 
Management  he  will  refrain  from  making  such  comments  in 
public.  In  most  cases  the  Management  knows  the  situation 
as  well  or  better  than  anyone  else  in  the  organization  and  are 
more  anxious  to  improve  conditions  than  anyone  else :  if  they 
are  not,  public  comment  certainly  does  no  good  anyway. 

The  special  specific  cooperative  responsibility  is  referred 
to  here  for  the  same  reason  that  "knocking"  was  discussed. 
Not  that  foreman  do  not  stand  up  for  their  plants  but  be- 
cause they  seldom  think  of  the  matter  as  being  the  discharge 
of  a  cooperative  responsibility. 

"Being  a  Part  of  the  Organization."— This  term  is  hard 
to  define  but  its  meaning  is  generally  understood.  A  man  who 
is  "a  part  of  the  organization"  thinks  of  his  job  as  a  part 
of  the  job  of  the  whole  concern,  and  is  ready  and  willing  to 
help  in  any  way  that  he  can  to  improve  the  work  as  a  whole. 
For  example,  it  is  the  men  who  are  a  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion that  are  willing  to  give  time  and  thought  in  serving  on 
special  committees,  attend  and  take  part  in  conferences,  and 
take  part  in  general  activities  outside  of  their  regular  jobs, 
and  who,  in  general,  "have  an  eye  out"  for  the  good  of  the 
concern  as  a  whole. 

Of  course,  different  foremen  may  have  different  ideas  in 
this  connection  and  it  is  for  each  one  to  determine  his  specific 
responsibilities  in  this  matter,  but  some  forms  of  cooperative 
responsibilities  of  this  sort  come  into  the  job  of  practically 
all  foremen. 

Plant  Gossip. — It  often  happens  that  some  incorrect  yarn 
or  piece  of  "plant  gossip"  gets  started  which,  if  not  headed 
off,  will  make  trouble  for  the  plant.  Where  a  foreman  knows 
of  this  (as  he  usually  does)  and  knows  that  it  is  not  true 


(as  is  often  the  case)  he  can  render  a  great  cooperative  ser- 
vice by  heading  it  off  at  once,  since  such  things  grow  as  they 
spread  and  the  longer  they  run  the  more  trouble  they 
can  make. 

For  example,  a  story  gets  started,  with  no  basis  of  fact, 
that  "the  plant  is  going  on  half  time  next  month"  and  a  lot 
of  men  begin  to  worry  about  their  jobs.  If  this  gossip  is  not 
checked,  it  may  mean  the  loss  of  good  men  through  quitting 
to  take  other  jobs  as  the  chance  comes. 

Where  such  a  situation  comes  up  and  a  foreman  does  not 
know  the  true  facts  in  the  case,  but  knows  that  there  will  be 
trouble  if  the  gossip  is  incorrect,  it  is  possible  that,  at  least 
in  most  cases,  that  a  foreman  could  render  a  distinct  co- 
operative service  by  informing  his  superior  of  the  situation 
as  soon  as  it  comes  to  his  attention. 

Any  specific  responsibilities  that  a  foreman  considers 
belong  in  his  job  under  this  heading  should  be  listed  in 
the  lay-out. 

C.    COOPEEATIVE  RESPONSIBILITIES  WITH  IMMEDIATE  SUPEEIOES 

The  same  general  conditions  exist  here  as  in  the  case  of 
cooperating  with  the  General  Management,  only,  owing  to 
the  closer  relations,  there  are  likely  to  be  more  opportunities 
for  cooperation  and  they  are  likely  to  be  of  a  more  de- 
tailed character. 

D.    COOPEEATIVE    EESPONSIBIMTIES    WITH    OTHEE    FOEEMEN 

"Appreciating  the  Other  Fellow's  Troubles." — One  co- 
operative responsibility  that  comes  into  the  job  of  a  fore- 
man may  be  called  "appreciating  the  other  fellow's  troubles." 
A  foreman  under  the  pressure  of  his  own  work  is  liable  to 
forget  that  another  foreman  is  pushed  just  as  hard  and  is 
worried  just  as  much  as  he  is,  and  he  can  cooperate  by  always 
remembering  that  fact  in  dealing  with  other  foremen.  This 
means  a  certain  amount  of  "give  and  take"  in  relations  be- 
tween departments  and  a  willingness  to  help  out  the 
other  fellow. 

Conditions  vary  so  much  that  this  special  cooperative  re- 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

sponsMity  can  only  be  referred  to  in  a  general  way,  but  it 
is  there  and  belongs  in  the  specific  responsibility  lay-out  of 
all  foremen's  jobs. 

Not  "Knocking"  Other  Departments.— The  same  state- 
ments as  made  for  the  General  Management  and  Immediate 
Superiors  applies  here  and  needs  no  discussion. 

"Playing  Fair"  with  Other  Foremen.— In  the  relations 
between  departments,  there  are  many  opportunities  for  dis- 
charging cooperative  responsibilities  in  the  way  of  '^laying 
fair."  For  example,  cases  have  been  known  where  one  fore- 
man "unloaded"  an  undesirable  man  on  another  foreman  by 
representing  him  to  be  a  much  better  man  than  he  actually 
was.  This  was  not  playing  fair  from  the  cooperative  stand- 
point. An  equally  unfair  case  is  "stealing"  a  good  man  from 
another  department.  Another  case  might  be  in  "coralling" 
all  the  available  small  tools  for  one's  own  department  when 
doing  so  would  put  another  department  out  of  business.  A 
number  of  other  possible  cases  for  cooperation  will  suggest 
themselves  to  any  foreman. 

As  in  the  case  of  all  other  cooperative  responsibilities, 
the  cases  for  possible  cooperation  between  foremen  will  be 
different  in  each  plant  and  so  can  only  be  suggested  here. 
Some  sort  of  responsibilities  along  this  line  are  sure  to  come 
into  the  job  of  any  foreman. 

Cooperating  on  Production.— Foremen,  whose  depart- 
ments turn  out  different  parts  of  the  same  product,  or  whose 
departments  "feed  into  one  another"  in  any  way,  as  in  a 
textile  mill,  or  a  shoe  factory,  have  many  chances  for  cooper- 
ating, such  as  each  foreman  on  serial  production  being  care- 
ful not  to  hold  up  the  work  on  the  man  in  advance  of  him  by 
not  giving  him  material  fast  enough,  or  by  not  furnishing  him 
with  a  product  of  satisfactory  quality. 

F.    COOPEEATTVE  EESPONSIBILITIES  WITH  THE  WORKING  FOECB 

Under  any  ordinary  circumstances,  a  foreman  has  specific 
responsibilities,  both  for  cooperating  with  the  men  under  him 
and  for  getting  their  cooperation.  As  the  team  leader,  he 
can  ahnost  always  do  some  things  to  help  the  other  members 


RESPONSIBILITIES  ON  COOPERATION 


$89 


of  the  team  do  their  various  jobs  better,  or  to  make  things 
easier.  For  example,  in  one  case,  where  the  working  tempera- 
ture was  of  necessity  very  high,  a  foreman  made  special 
arrangements  so  that  ice  water  was  always  available. 

Under  many  conditions,  a  foreman  can  help  matters  by 
taking  special  pains  to  see  that  necessary  tools  and  equip- 
ment are  available,  especially  when  men  are  working  on  con- 
tract or  on  piecework. 

For  example,  in  a  shipyard,  it  makes  a  great  difference  to 
riveters,  or  chippers  and  caulkers  whether  the  air  is,  or  is  not, 
always  available  and  up  to  pressure  and  foremen,  who,  by 
all  means  in  their  power  see  to  it  that  air  is  kept  up,  cooper- 
ate with  the  workmen  more  effectively  than  foremen  who  do 
nothing  about  it.  Where  work  may  be  held  up  by  an  insuf- 
ficient number  of  small  tools,  a  foreman  can  cooperate  by 
doing  all  that  he  can  to  see  that  a  sufficient  supply  of  these 
tools  are  on  hand  in  the  tool  room. 

According  to  special  conditions,  a  number  of  possible 
specific  responsibilities  along  this  line  will  suggest  themselves 
and  can  be  included  in  the  responsibility  lay-out,  and,  in 
general,  can  be  classified  under  one  of  the  headings  given 
on  the  chart. 

The  question  of  responsibility  for  securing  cooperation 
from  the  working  force  is  so  largely  a  question  of  manage- 
ment that  it  is  discussed  under  that  heading  in  another  chap- 
ter, and  is  only  noted  here. 

Cooperative  Responsibilities  with  Special  Depart- 
ments.—Outside  of  the  direct  responsibilities  already  consid- 
ered, there  are,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  numerous  opportuni- 
ties for  noting  cooperative  responsibilities  in  connection 
with  special  departments  where  such  departments  form  a 
part  of  the  organization.  That  is,  there  are  a  number  of 
things  that  a  foreman  can  or  cannot  do,  as  he  pleases,  which, 
if  he  does  do,  will  help  these  departments  to  put  over  their 
work  in  the  most  effective  way. 

1.  **Helping  them  along,"  and 

2.  ^'Backing  them  up." 


/ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 

A  few  illustrations  may  make  clearer  the  sense  in  which 
these  terms  are  used  here. 

One  example  of  "helping  along"  would  be,  in  the  case  of 
a  safety  department,  where  a  foreman  took  special  pains  to 
see  that  any  safety  literature  was  actually  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  force.  As  a  direct  responsibility  he  may  be 
expected  to  receive  and  distribute  it,  but  he  may  do  this  in 
such  a  non-cooperative  way  that  much  of  its  value  is  lost. 
A  foreman  who  feels  a  cooperative  responsibility  will  see  to 
it  that  such  notices  are  so  posted  that  they  actually  come  to 
the  attention  of  the  men :  he  will  even  talk  to  the  men  about 
the  matter,  or  will  even  talk  to  the  force  as  a  whole.  That  is, 
he  can  go  beyond  the  letter  of  his  direct  responsibilities  in  the 
matter.  Again,  in  the  case  where  free  medical  service  is  pro- 
vided, he  can  personally  see  to  it  that  every  worker  under- 
stands about  the  matter,  knows  what  the  service  can  do  and 
how  to  take  advantage  of  it,  when  the  dispensary  is  open 
and  so  on.  If  he  makes  a  special  point  of  this,  he  is  assuming 
and  discharging  cooperative  responsibilities  in  this  connec- 
tion, whereas,  if  he  merely  sticks  a  notice  on  the  bulletin 
board,  he  may  have  discharged  his  direct  responsibility  but 
he  has  not  cooperated. 

In  the  same  way,  a  foreman  can  go  beyond  the  direct 
responsibility  in  "backing  up"  a  special  department.  For 
example,  he  can,  as  a  matter  of  direct  responsibility,  dis- 
tribute safety  leaflets,  or  post  warning  notices,  but,  if  at  the 
same  time  he  "throws  down"  the  department  in  talking  with 
the  men,  or  gives  the  impression  that  "it  is  all  foolishness," 
he  is  not  cooperating. 

According  to  the  special  nature  of  the  organization  and 
the  particular  special  departments,  the  specific  responsibil- 
ities would,  of  course,  vary,  but  wherever  any  special  depart- 
ments exist  a  number  of  cooperative  responsibilities  can  be 
analyzed  out  and  included  in  the  detailed  responsibility  lay- 
out  for  the  foreman^s  job.* 

•  The  special  case  of  cooperating  with  training  agencies,  inside  or  out- 
side of  the  plant  are  discussed  in  the  part  on  instruction,  and  should  not 
be  included  here. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS 

ON  COOPERATION 

Preliminary. — ^It  has  been  pointed  out  that  one  of  the 
general  responsibilities  of  any  foreman  was  for  effective  co- 
operation with  other  members  of  the  "team"  and  Chapter 
XXII  pointed  out  and  discussed  some  of  the  more  probable 
detailed  and  specific  responsibilities  under  that  general  head- 
ing. As  in  all  other  cases  any  supervisory  responsibilities 
carry  with  them  corresponding  managerial  responsibilities 
that  must  be  handled  with  regard  to  the  cost  elements  that 
come  into  play.  This  chapter,  therefore,  takes  up  some  of 
the  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  that  have  to  do 
with  cooperation  as  distinguished  from  the  organization  re- 
sponsibilities as  discussed  in  the  last  chapter. 

Cooperation  Works  Both  Ways.— Cooperation  is  evi- 
dently a  mutual  proposition.  Just  as  "it  takes  two  to  make 
a  fight,"  so  it  takes  two  to  set  up  effective  cooperation.  A 
cannot  cooperate  with  B  unless  B  is  willing,  so  that  coopera- 
tion means  as  much  securing  cooperation  from  others  as  it 
means  cooperating  with  others  for  the  general  good  of 
the  team. 

Why  Cooperation  Especially  Affects  the  Foreman. — Out 
of  all  the  various  positions  in  the  organization,  a  foreman 
probably  has  more  opportunity  to  help  or  hinder  through 
good  or  poor  cooperation  than  any  other  member  of  the  team, 
because  he  has  a  position  in  the  organization  that  places  him 
between  the  Management  and  the  working  force.  On  this 
account  he  has  more  "cooperative  contact  points"  than  any 
one  else.  He  is  in  direct  contact  with  the  members  of  the 
operating  force  and  has  responsibilities  to  them.  He  is,  on 
the  other  side,  in  direct  contact  with  his  immediate  superiors 
and  has  responsibilities  to  them.    He  is  in  direct  contact  with 

391 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


other  foremen  and  has  many  cooperative  contact  points  with 
them.  In  certain  cases  he  represents  the  Management  to  the 
working  force  and  in  others  he  is  the  agency  through  which 
other  departments  must  work.  The  problem  as  to  how  he  can 
render  the  most  effective  cooperation  is,  therefore,  one  to 
which  any  foreman  may  well  give  careful  consideration  since 
the  degree  to  which  he  does  or  does  not  render  effective  co- 
operation and  secure  effective  cooperation  can  very  seriously 
affect  the  work  of  the  team  as  a  whole. 

For  example,  he  must  give  full  cooperation  to  the  men 
from  whom  he  takes  orders:  on  the  questions  of  policies  he 
must  not  "meddle"  but  must  do  all  that  he  can  to  promote 
the  best  working  relations  and  to  make  the  carrying  out  of 
policies  easy  and  effective,  so  far  as  he  is  expected  to  con- 
tribute to  this  problem.  He  must  work  in  harmony  with  his 
fellow  foremen  and  give  full  cooperation  to  them  in  such  mat- 
ters as  suggesting  and  advising  on  any  matters  that  will  help 
the  general  success  of  the  different  departments,  as  well  as 
taking  in  the  right  way  any  suggestions  or  advice  that  may 
come  from  them.  He  must  secure  from  his  working  force  that 
sort  of  cooperation  that  will  make  his  department  operate 
most  effectively  by  so  dealing  with  them  that  they  are  willing 
to  do  all  that  they  can  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  the 
department,  the  plant,  or  the  job. 

Cooperation  a  Cost  Factor. — Cooperation  is  considered 
here  because  good  or  poor  cooperation  affects  cost  of  pro- 
duction in  any  plant.  If,  by  effective  cooperation,  errors 
can  be  more  quickly  "spotted"  and  corrected,  methods  can  be 
improved,  more  or  better  work  can  be  done,  then  lack  of 
cooperation  must  mean  that  operating  costs  are  not  as  low 
as  they  can  be  made,  so  that,  in  general,  the  greater  the  co- 
operation all  along  the  line,  the  lower  the  costs.  For  ex- 
ample, a  foreman  of  a  production  department  notices  that 
where  the  maintenance  department  is  pulling  down  a  building 
a  lot  of  boards  have  been  left  in  the  roadway  with  nails  stick- 
ing up  through  them  ready  to  catch  a  foot  or  a  tire.  If  he 
says  to  himself,  ^That  is  none  of  my  business,  it's  up  to  Bill," 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


898 


and,  as  a  result,  a  workman's  foot  is  damaged  by  a  rusty  nail, 
and  there  is  a  case  for  compensation  or  a  damage  suit,  or  a 
truck  is  put  out  of  business  when  it  is  needed,  evidently  such  a 
lack  of  cooperation  has  increased  cost.  Had  the  foreman  in 
question  gone  out  of  his  way  to  draw  Bill's  attention  to  the 
matter  or  in  some  way  got  those  planks  out  of  the  way,  it  is 
equally  evident  that  cost  would  have  been  reduced,  or,  at 
least,  the  chance  of  increased  costs  been  cut  down. 

As  another  example,  foreman  A,  for  some  reason,  has 
adopted  such  an  attitude  towards  his  men  that  he  has  failed 
to  get  their  cooperation  and  when  a  "pinch"  comes,  he  can- 
not get  out  his  production  as  rapidly  as  is  necessary  because 
his  men  do  not  "stand  behind  him."  Foreman  B  who  has 
secured  more  cooperation  from  his  men  gets  their  backing  in 
the  "pinch"  and  is  able  "to  deliver  the  goods."  Evidently 
foreman  A  has  put  more  cost  on  the  company  than  foreman 
B,  and  so,  to  that  extent,  the  latter  has  done  a  better  cost 
cutting  job. 

Cooperation,  therefore,  is  an  important  cost  factor,  each 
kind  of  cooperation  setting  up  its  own  special  cost  elements 
and  managerial  problems,  some  of  which  are  considered  in 
the  following  sections. 

SECTION   I.    COST    ELEMENTS    AND    MANAGERIAL    PROBLEMS    ON 
COOPERATION    WITH    THE    GENERAL    MANAGEMENT 

Preliminary. — ^Among  the  possible  ways  in  which  a  fore- 
man can  cooperate  with  the  General  Management  are,  as 
given  on  the  chart  in  Appendix  A. 

1.  Giving  plant  information  to  workers. 

2.  Having  plant  pride. 

3.  Not  "knocking." 

4.  Heading  off  incorrect  plant  gossip. 
6.  "Being  a  part  of  the  organization." 

And  to  these  may  be  added  as  managerial  responsibilities : 

6.  Transmitting  general  orders  intelligently, 

7.  Knowing  when  to  ask  for  orders. 

8.  Carrying  out  suggestions  intelligently. 


\i 


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II 


SM 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


9.  Being  sure  that  orders  are  fully  understood  before 
they  are  acted  upon. 

Since  each  of  these  sets  up  its  own  cost  elements  and  man- 
agerial problems  they  are  taken  up  in  order  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

A.  GIVING  PLANT  INFORMATION  TO  MEMBERS  OF  THE  WORKING 

FORCE 

Preliminary. — ^Whenever  a  new  worker  comes  into  the 
plant,  or  even  when  he  is  transferred  from  one  department  to 
another,  he  must  secure  certain  information  somehow.  He 
may  get  this  information  correctly  and  get  it  all,  or  he  may 
only  get  it  in  part  and  possibly  get  that  part  wrong,  accord- 
ing to  who  he  gets  it  from.  As  pointed  out  in  the  list  of  pos- 
sible responsibilities  on  page  526  one  responsibility  that  is, 
in  almost  all  cases,  a  part  of  the  foreman's  job  is  to  see  that 
such  '*plant  information  as  is  necessary  to  enable  the  new 
worker  to  take  up  and  carry  on  his  work  and  to  fit  easily 
into  the  organization  is  passed  over  to  him  correctly 
and  completely. 

What  is  Meant  by  "Plant  Information." — ^As  the  term  is 
used  here,  as  indicated  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  *^plant 
information  does  not  refer  to  job  knowledge,  which,  if  it  has 
to  be  put  over  is  a  matter  of  training  as  discussed  in  the 
chapters  on  Instruction,  but  refers  to  such  information  as 
will  aid  a  worker  who  is  new  to  the  plant  or  to  the  depart- 
ment to  "fit  in"  easily  and  quickly.  The  exact  nature  of  this 
plant  information  depends,  of  course,  upon  the  particular 
plant  or  department,  and  so  must  be  determined  by  each 
foreman  for  himself,  according  to  the  special  working  condi- 
tions, but  there  is  almost  always  something.  Such  informa- 
tion might  include,  for  example,  how  often  wages  are  paid, 
where  they  are  paid,  whether  by  check  or  in  cash,  provision 
for  accident  insurance  (if  any),  for  retaining  if  injured  (if 
provided  by  the  State  law) ,  special  departmental  rules,  spe- 
cial opportunities  offered  by  the  company  in  various  ways, 
free  hospital  service  or  medical  service  and  so  on,  depending 
in  each  case  on  the  special  plant  and  the  department. 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


895 


Cost  Elements  on  Plant  Information. — ^In  a  general  way 
it  may  be  said  that  cost  is  increased  or  reduced  in  proportion 
as  the  "green"  worker  gets  all  necessary  plant  information 
and  gets  it  right  and  not  wrong.  Some  of  the  more  probable 
detailed  cost  elements,  however,  might  be,  no  matter  who  gives 
him  the  information,  the  foreman,  the  Employment  De- 
partment, the  Welfare  Department,  etc. 

1.  Loss  of  time  and  annoyance  due  to  the  deliberate  giv- 
ing of  false  information  by  other  members,  such  as  the  "left 
handed  monkey  wrench,"  the  "round  square  bar,"  and  so  on. 

2.  Mistakes  due  to  lack  of  information,  as  where  a  man 
is  told  to  get  some  tool  at  the  tool  room  but  has  to  "skirmish 
around"  to  find  out  where  the  tool  room  is,  how  to  get  his 
checks,  etc.,  and  often  goes  to  several  wrong  places  before 
he  finds  the  right  one. 

3.  Dissatisfaction  due  to  being  "run  as  a  greenie." 

4.  Apparent  hesitation  in  going  at  work  because  of  lack 
of  information  where  to  go  to  get  tools,  instructions,  stock, 
etc.,  often  with  more  or  less  of  a  "row"  in  consequence. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  here 
evidently  is  to  determine  what  plant  information  is  necessary 
and  see  that  it  is  put  across  completely  and  correctly. 

In  the  case  of  a  foreman  this  problem  may  take  either 

of  two  forms : 

1.  It  is  a  part  of  his  job  to  determine  the  information 

and  put  it  across  himself. 

2.  It  is  a  part  of  his  job  to  see  that  it  has  been  put  across, 
where  it  has  been  determined  and  passed  out  by  somebody  else. 

Dealing  with  the  ProblencL — ^The  first  case  would  come 
up  where  no  other  agency  had  this  responsibility  and  would 
be  most  likely  to  happen  in  a  small  shop  or  where  there  were 
no  special  departments  having  this  responsibility.  The  sec- 
ond, as  is  usually  the  case,  where  there  is  an  employment 
department  or  a  welfare  department. 

Where  the  foreman  has  to  do  the  whole  job  himself  he 
must  first  carefully  determine  what  information  is  required 
and   be    sure   that   he   has   it    straight   himself    and   then 


VI 


m 


lli:: 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


devise    ways    and    means    for    passing    it    out    effectively 
and  economically. 

The  sort  of  information  must  be  worked  out  in  cooperation 
with  the  other  team  members  that  possess  some  of  it  (Greneral 
Superiors,  Immediate  Superiors,  Other  Departments,  etc.) 
in  order  that  it  may  be  accurate  and  complete.  Since  it  would 
be  different  for  different  conditions,  this  part  of  the  job  is 
not  considered  further  here. 

The  effective  passing  out  of  the  information,  whatever  it 
may  be,  sets  up  a  different  managerial  problem,  and  involves 
the  whole  question  of  the  selection  of  suitable  methods  and 
devices  which  is  too  much  to  go  into  in  detail  here.  A  few 
suggestions  may  be  useful,  however.  Where  the  person  who 
needs  plant  information  can  read  m  any  language  it  has 
been  found  by  some  concerns  that  much  of  this  information 
can  be  printed  and  put  into  the  hands  of  the  new  worker. 
The  great  difficulty  here  has  been  to  put  up  the  information 
in  such  a  way  that  the  person  who  needs  it  really  gets  it: 
that  is,  thoroughly  understands  it.  The  question  of  how  such 
information  can  be  put  up  in  a  way  that  will  be  really  service- 
able is  worth  careful  consideration  and  study. 

Signs,  posters,  etc.,  have  also  been  tried  with  more  or  less 
success,  but,  where  it  can  be  done  there  is  no  question  that, 
while  printed  information  in  proper  form  is  of  value,  nothing 
takes  the  place  at  the  beginning  of  direct  spoken  passing  out 
of  information  in  such  cases.  This  is  good  management  for 
a  number  of  reasons.  In  the  first  place  depending  on  printed 
stuff  is  a  cold  blooded  proposition  anyway.  Any  of  us  who 
came  into  a  new  job  in  a  new  place  would  feel  better  if  the 
man  that  we  were  to  work  under  thought  it  worth  while  to 
take  a  little  time  to  '*put  us  wise."  Again,  if  the  information 
is  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  worth  passing  out  it  is  worth 
while  to  be  sure  that  it  has  been  really  understood.  So,  for 
a  number  of  reasons,  it  is  worth  while  to  give  attention  and 
thought  to  this  particular  managerial  job  and  to  figure  out 
ways  and  means  by  which  it  can  be  done  in  good  shape. 

Of  course,  the  above  statements  are  only  made  as  sug- 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


397 


gestions:  each  foreman  must  work  out  his  own  special  job  in 
this  connection  according  to  his  own  particular  case,  but  it 
is  a  problem  that  is,  in  most  cases,  well  worth  consideration 
in  conferences. 

B.   HAVING  PLANT  PRIDE 

Preliminary. — One  way  in  which  any  foreman  can  co- 
operate with  the  general  management  is  to  have  plant  pride, 
that  is,  to  at  least  try  to  get  himself  into  a  state  of  mind 
where  he  is  willing  to  admit  that  some  things  in  the  plant  are 
as  good  or  better  as  they  are  in  other  plants.  Of  course, 
no  plant  is  perfect  or  ever  will  be,  and  some  are  better  than 
others,  but  if  a  foreman  will  try  to  be  an  optimist  (which  has 
been  defined  as  being  able  to  make  pink  lemonade  out  of  the 
lemons  that  are  handed  out  to  you)  rather  than  a  pessimist  (  a 
fellow  who  chews  his  quinine  pills)  he  will  be  giving  better  co- 
operation with  the  Management  and  so  will  be  cutting  costs. 

What  is  Meant  by  Plant  Pride? — ^As  the  term  is  used 
here,  plant  pride  means  feeling  that  the  plant  is  a  decent  con- 
cern to  work  for,  and,  on  the  whole,  being  ready  to  stand  up 
for  it,  and,  incidentally,  being  interested  in  its  improvement, 
and  being  willing  to  say  so. 

Cost  Elements  on  Plant  Pride. — ^In  this  case  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  set  up  definite  cost  elements,  but  the  following 
may  be  suggestive.  As  between  a  foreman  who  has  plant 
pride  and  one  who  has  not  it  might  be  that : 

1.  A  foreman  who  believes  in  the  plant  would  take  more 
pains  to  insure  satisfactory  quantity  and  quality  of  product 
than  a  foreman  who  thought  that  the  plant  *'was  no 
good  anyhow." 

2.  If  a  foreman  has  no  plant  pride  he  is  very  unlikely  to 
be  able  to  develop  either  plant  or  departmental  pride  in  the 
members  of  his  working  force.  It  is  practically  impossible  to 
get  into  other  people  what  you  have  not  yourself. 

3.  If  a  man  really  thinks  that  the  concern  for  which  he 
is  working  is  no  good  he  finds  that  it  is  practically  impossible 
to  keep  up  his  interest  in  his  own  job:  in  fact,  if  he  really 


i 


! 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

feels  that  way  it  is  a  question  if  he  can  do  a  good  job  anyway. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  prevent  getting  into  a  "Oh !  What's 
the  use"  attitude,  with  corresponding  tendencies  to  careless- 
ness, failure  to  cooperate  and  all  the  other  cost  elements  that 
have  been  discussed. 

In  fact,  if  a  foreman  really  thinks  that  the  concern  that 
he  is  working  for  is  no  good,  if  he  really  has  no  plant  pride, 
and  is  not  merely  "talking  through  his  hat"  or  "growling" 
almost  any  of  the  cost  elements  that  are  liable  to  come  up 
anywhere  may  come  into  play  to  increase  cost  due  to  this 
cause.  If  a  man  does  not  really  believe  in  the  concern  that 
he  works  for  he  cannot  really  believe  in  his  job,  and  when 
this  happens  almost  anything  may  happen  in  connection  with 

his  job. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  managerial  problem  here 

is  for  any  foreman  to  develop  plant  pride  so  far  as  he  can 
under  the  conditions,  and  this  evidently  sets  up  a  problem  in 
management  that  he  must  work  out  for  himself. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — As  just  stated,  this  problem 
is  one  that  a  man  must  work  out  on  himself  not  with  regard 
to  others.  How  he  does  it  depends,  of  course,  on  his  special 
make-up,  and  the  following  is  only  intended  to  be  suggestive 
and  to  promote  discussion. 

In  the  first  place,  if  a  man  has  no  plant  pride  it  is  a 
question  whether  he  has  any  business  to  stay  on  the  job, 
either  for  his  own  good  or  for  the  good  of  the  concern.  Per- 
haps the  best  cooperation  that  he  can  render  is  to  find  an- 
other job  as  soon  as  he  can  where  he  can  feel  that  the  concern 
is  some  good.  This  is,  of  course,  a  question  that  each  man 
must  answer  for  himself  and  is  only  mentioned  here  in  passing. 

Since,  however,  among  foremen,  entire  lack  of  plant  pride 
is  very  rare,  the  managerial  question  is  rather  one  to  have 
the  most  pride  possible,  and  so  this  point  may  be  worth 
some  consideration. 

The  following  statements  are  not  set  up  as  rules  but 
merely  as  suggestions  that  may,  at  least,  give  rise  to  some 
(iiscussion  or  thinking  about  the  problem,  as  it  comes  up  in 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 

different  plants  under  different  conditions.  Among  the  "ways 
and  means"  that  a  man  can  use  on  himself  in  promoting  his 
own  plant  pride  might  be : 

1.  Realizing  that  in  practically  all  plants  the  Greneral 
Management  wants  to  make  the  plant  as  good  as  possible: 
they  have  plant  pride  themselves  and  in  most  cases  they  are 
as  anxious  to  make  things  as  good  as  possible  as  anybody 
else,  if  for  no  other  reason  as  a  straight  matter  of  business. 
The  success  of  the  business  depends  upon  the  reputation  of 
the  plant  and  of  the  product  and  the  General  Management 
knows  it  better  than  anybody  else. 

2.  Realizing  that  the  General  Management  has  its 
troubles  as  well  as  other  people,  but  they  cannot  always  tell 
about  them.  For  example,  a  building  may  be  old  and  the 
working  conditions  poor  in  consequence.  The  Management 
may  know  this  and  be  very  anxious  to  improve  the  conditions, 
yet  they  may  be  tied  up  so  that  they  can  do  nothing  immedi- 
ately. It  may  be  impossible  to  raise  the  money,  that  special 
case  may  be  included  in  a  general  reconstruction  program 
that  depends  on  the  condition  of  the  money  market,  or  other 
more  important  matters  may  be  slated  foj^  action  first.  The 
point  is  that  what  may  appear  the  one  thing  that  ought  to 
be  done  at  once  from  the  standpoint  of  the  man  who  is  in 
direct  contact  with  the  situation  (the  foreman)  may  not  be 
immediately  possible  with  regard  to  the  good  of  the  concern 
as  a  whole,  but  this  may  not  mean  that  those  in  control  are 
not  anxious  to  do  all  that  they  can,  and  it  may  help  a  foreman 
if  he  realizes  that  he  may  not  know  the  whole  of  the  story. 

8.  All  plants  have  their  "bright  spots"  and  their  "dark 
spots."  None  are  absolutely  bad  and  few  are  absolutely 
perfect.  As  a  rule,  any  plant  is  in  a  state  of  development 
and,  just  now,  it  is  true  that  the  majority  are  in  more  or 
less  of  a  mixed  up  condition  on  account  of  the  war.  In  "man- 
aging" himself  on  this  plant  pride  problem,  it  will  help  a 
foreman  if  he  will  endeavor,  so  far  as  he  can,  to  acquaint 
himself  with  the  policy  of  the  concern  as  to  such  things  as 
affect  plant  pride  and  if  he  will  consider  what  the  concern 


\if 


i« 


''!': 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


401 


wants  to  do  as  well  as  what  it  is  at  the  time :  a  man  may  be 
proud  of  a  concern  that  is  "down"  but  means  to  come  up  as 
well  as  of  a  concern  that  never  was  "down." 

4.  Another  "managerial  device"  for  a  foreman  is  to  look 
at  the  "bright  spots"  rather  than  the  "dark  spots."  He  can 
be  an  "optimist"  or  a  "pessimist"  as  he  pleases.  If  he  sees 
only  the  dark  side  of  things  it  will  not  help  him  to  develop 
pride  in  the  concern  for  which  he  works. 

5.  And  lastly,  if  a  man  feels  that  he  is  cooperating  effec- 
tively to  improve  the  plant  through  any  means  that  may  lie 
within  his  power,  and  knows  that  he  has  helped  to  make 
things  better,  that  he  is  really  helping  to  get  a  plant  of  which 
all  who  are  connected  with  it  may  feel  more  and  more  proud, 
that,  in  itself,  will  develop  plant  pride. 

As  already  stated,  the  above  remarks  are  not  intended  to 
tell  any  given  foreman  what  he  should  do  in  regard  to  this 
problem  of  plant  pride.  It  is  up  to  each  man  to  decide  for 
himself  and  nobody  can  decide  for  him,  or  tell  him  just  what 
he  ought  to  do  or  what  he  ought  not  to  do.  All  that  can  be 
done  here  is  to  make  a  few  suggestions  that  may  promote 
thinking  and  discussion  and  that  is  aXl  that  has  been 
attempted. 


C.  NOT   KNOCKING  THE  MANAGEMENT 

Preliminary. — ^It  needs  no  discussion  to  convince  anyone 
that  "knocking"  brings  in  cost  elements,  but  just  what  they 
are  may  need  some  discussion.  Everybody  knows  in  a  gen- 
eral way  what  the  term  means  but  for  clearness  it  may  be 
well  to  say  that  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  here  "knock- 
ing" means  criticising  in  the  wrong  place  or  to  the  wrong 
people  and  often  means  merely  finding  fault  without  suggest- 
ing any  way  for  improvement. 

Knocking  is  really  an  "Indoor  Sport"  more  than  any- 
thing else  and  usually  comes  about  when  a  man  is  mad,  or 
upset  over  something.  Usually  he  does  not  mean  anything 
by  it  except  so  far  as  it  gives  him  a  chance  to  "blow  off 
steam."    It  is,  however,  a  habit  that  may  bring  into  play 


some  serious  cost  elements,  especially  in  the  case  of  knocking 
the  Management,  because  of  the  degree  to  which  these  cost 
elements  affect  cooperation,  and  so  it  is  considered  here. 

Cost  Elements. — This  is  another  case  where  the  cost  ele- 
ments are  hard  to  define  because  the  results  of  "knocking" 
are  so  hard  to  foretell.  In  a  case  of  this  kind  almost  anything 
may  come  out  of  it,  or  nothing,  according  to  the  way  that 
things  may  go.    The  following  may,  however,  be  suggestive: 

1.  Danger  of  promoting  dissatisfaction  among  people 
who  happen  to  hear  "knocking,"  especially  if  it  is  done  by 
their  superior,  as,  for  example,  when  two  foreman  have  a 
"knocking  party"  where  the  members  of  the  operating  force 
can  hear  them. 

2.  Danger  of  promoting  dissatisfaction  and  cutting  down 
plant  pride  among  the  people  who  do  the  knocking. 

3.  The  cost  of  the  wasted  time.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  "knocking,"  as  the  term  is  used  here,  does  not  mean 
discussion  among  people  who  are  really  anxious  to  improve 
things,  but  means  what  is  often  called  "chewing  the  rag." 
Since  this  sort  of  thing  never  gets  anybody  anywhere,  time 
spent  in  this  particular  "indoor  sport"  is  wasted  whether  it 
is  a  man's  time  or  the  company's  time. 

4.  Danger  of  the  spreading  of  the  habit.  It  is  unfor- 
tunately true  that  the  habit  of  "knocking"  is  as  catching  as 
the  measles,  and  the  more  one  listens  to  a  knocker  the  greater 
chance  of  getting  the  habit  oneself.  A  chronic  knocker  in 
a  bunch  of  men  is  as  bad  as  a  rotten  apple  in  a  basket  of  good 
apples.  If  the  thing  is  kept  up  the  result  is  likely  to  be  a 
bunch  of  knockers  instead  of  one. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^In  dealing  with  this  matter 
of  knocking  as  a  managerial  problem,  as  already  pointed  out, 
a  foreman  must  deal  largely  with  himself,  and  the  ways  and 
means  that  he  adopts  to  cut  out  the  cost  or  reduce  it  are  ones 
that  he  must  work  out  for  himself.  The  suggestions  made 
below  are,  therefore,  merely  suggestive.  Among  the  things 
that  anybody  can  do  if  they  want  to  are : 

1.  Head  off  knocking  when  you  run  into  it.  When  another 

26 


h '. 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


fellow  starts  in,  start  something  else:  switch  the  subject. 
Don't  "follow  his  lead." 

2.  If  a  fellow  is  bound  to  knock,  try  to  get  him  where 
others  will  not  hear  him,  especially  where  it  is  a  case  of  a  man 
with  a  real  or  fancied  personal  grievance  because  these  are 
often  the  most  dangerous  cases  from  the  cost  increasing  angle. 

3.  Keep  out  of  the  habit  yourself:  it  is  easy  to  acquire 
and  hard  to  break  oif  when  you  have  it.  Watch  for 
the  symptoms. 

4.  Be  especially  careful  when  you  are  tired  or  worried  or 
mad.  These  are  danger  points.  Keep  away  from  temptation 
until  you  have  cooled  off.  Under  conditions  of  worry,  or 
fatigue,  or  annoyance  any  man  is  liable  to  say  things  that  he 
does  not  really  mean  and  that  he  will  be  sorry  for  afterwards. 

5.  As  already  stated  in  the  last  section,  be  as  much  of 
an  optimist  and  as  little  of  a  pessimist  as  you  can  make  out 
of  yourself. 

6.  Remember  that,  after  all,  knocking  is  only  blowing  off 
steam  and  steam  that  is  blown  off  doesn't  help  to  move  the 
train:  it  does  not  get  anybody  anywhere. 

7.  Gkt  clearly  in  mind  the  difference  between  honest, 
helpful  discussion  and  criticism  made  at  the  right  time  to 
the  right  people  and  just  plain  knocking  made  to  the  wrong 
people  and  carried  on  under  conditions  where  nobody  can  tell 
what  the  cost  may  be  with  no  gain. 

8.  Do  what  you  can  to  cure  others  of  the  habit  whenever 
you  can  do  it  tactfully.  Remember  that  a  gang  of  knockers 
never  made  a  good  team  and  cooperate  with  the  organization 
by  helping  to  keep  it  a  team  and  not  a  "hanmier  association." 

D.  HEADING  OFF  INCORRECT  PLANT  GOSSIP  IN  THE  PLANT  OE  IN 

THE  DEPARTMENT 

Preliminary .^Every  foreman  knows  that  any  plant  is  as 
bad  as  an  old  lady's  home  for  gossip.  Much  of  this  gossip 
is  harmless  but  some  of  it  can  do  great  damage  if  it  is  incor- 
rect and  is  allowed  to  go  on  unchecked.  By  virtue  of  his 
position  as  the  man  who  stands  next  to  the  working  force 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


40S 


a  foreman  is  in  a  better  position  than  anybody  else  connected 
with  the  Management  to  pick  up  such  gossip  first  and  head 
it  off  if  it  needs  heading  off.  Possible  responsibilities  in  this 
connection  were  pointed  out  in  Chapter  XXII  and  this 
section  discusses  some  of  the  cost  elements  and  the  corre- 
sponding managerial  problems. 

Cost  Elements. — ^The  cost  elements  here  are  again  hard 
to  define,  because  no  one  can  tell  how  far  gossip  will  travel, 
or  what  may  come  of  it.  However,  among  the  possibilities 
might  be: 

(1)  A  letting  down  of  morale  with  the  resulting  cost 
elements.  (Increased  carelessness,  decreased  production, 
lowered  quality,  etc.) 

(2)  Increased  absenteeism. 

(3)  Increased  quitting,  with  the  resulting  replacement 

cost. 

(4)  Unnecessary  trouble  with  the  operating  force,  due 
to  misunderstandings  caused  by  unfounded  gossip. 

(5)  Lost  time,  where  people  wasted  time  "passing  along 
the  news,"  instead  of  attending  to  the  work  in  hand. 

(6)  Friction  caused  by  attempting  to  get  them  back 

on  their  jobs. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — ^In  general,  gossip  is  one  of 
two  kinds :  it  is  either  entirely  untrue,  or  is  a  distorted  version 
of  the  facts.  In  either  case,  the  managerial  problem  is  "to 
head  it  off"  as  soon  as  possible,  since  the  longer  it  runs,  the 
greater  its  cost  increasing  effect. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — As  just  indicated,  the  essen- 
tial method  for  dealing  with  unfounded  plant  gossip  is  to 
spot  it  and  stop  it. 

The  ability  of  a  foreman  to  do  this  largely  depends  on 
the  degree  to  which  he  has  the  confidence  of  his  operating 
force  and  has  secured  their  cooperation. 

If  there  is  no  cooperative  spirit  and  little  or  no  confidence 
gossip  may  go  on  for  a  long  time  and  a  foreman  never  know 
it,  but  under  the  right  conditions,  some  one  is  nearly  always 


'I, 

r 


i 


404 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


405 


'H 


nl^llF 


sure  to  come  to  him  for  the  facts  if  it  is  believed  that  the 
facts  wHl  he  given. 

For  example,  suppose  in  a  garment  factory  a  story  gets 
started  that  the  plant  is  going  out  of  business  and  everyone 
is  going  to  lose  his  job.  Foreman  A  has  not  succeeded  in 
setting  up  good  relations — all  the  girls  start  looking  for  jobs 
in  other  plants  and  the  labor  loss  begins  to  run  up  with  no 
apparent  reason.  The  girls  "just  quit"  and  the  foreman 
has  no  idea  why,  because  no  one  will  tell  him.  Foreman  B 
has  established  good  relations,  so  that  the  girls  are  not  afraid 
to  talk  to  him,  so  when  "Mary  Jane"  tells  him  that  she  is 
quitting  and  he  asks  her  why,  he  finds  out  at  once  that  she 
is  leaving  because  she  expects  to  lose  her  job  in  that  plant  and 
is  "looking  out  for  herself."  If  he  knows  that  the  story  is 
not  true,  he  tells  her  so  and  she  believes  him;  not  only  has 
he  nailed  that  particular  bit  of  nonsense  with  her,  but  she 
will  pass  the  news  along  to  the  other  girls  and  the  gossip 
will  be  quickly  smothered.  As  compared  with  Foreman  A, 
Foreman  B  evidently  has  done  a  better  cost  cutting  job. 

Of  course,  in  all  these  matters  there  are  two  cases.  In  the 
later  case  the  foreman  knows  the  truth,  and,  if  he  is  in  a 
position  to  do  so,  of  course,  tells  it. 

In  the  other  case,  the  foreman  does  not  know  the  facts, 
and  so  cannot  act  at  once,  but  may  find  out.  Anyway,  there 
are  only  two  square  answers : 

(1)  "I  don't  know,  but  I'll  find  out  if  I  can  and  let 
you  know." 

(2)  "I  don't  know." 

Under  good  cooperative  conditions  between  a  foreman 
and  his  superiors,  the  first  answer  might  be  necessary,  but 
not  the  second. 

In  all  cases,  a  foreman  can  cooperate  to  the  extent  of 
notifying  his  superiors  of  the  conditions,  even  if  he  can  do  no 
more  through  lack  of  information. 

E.  "being  a  pakt  of  the  organization'* 

Preliminary. — ^The  meaning  of  this  expression  has  al- 
ready been  defined  as  referring  to  the  degree  to  which  a  fore- 


man sees  cooperative  responsibilities  in  various  ways  outside 
of  his  regular  job,  for  giving  time  and  work  for  the  good  of 
the  concern  as  a  whole.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  man 
is  asked  to  serve  on  a  committee  that  has  to  study  and  report 
upon  some  matter  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  concern:  say 
a  new  method  of  routing  material,  or  a  change  in  operations, 
or  a  change  in  the  organization. 

If  he  takes  the  job  and  gives  time  and  thought  to  it,  he  is 
much  more  a  part  of  the  organization  than  if  he  "ducks"  the 
job,  or  only  goes  at  it  in  a  perfunctory  way,  without  really 
helping  the  thing  along.  Perhaps  the  idea  might  be  illus- 
trated by  the  story  of  the  two  men  abroad,  where  one  always 
registered  from  New  York,  and  the  other  as  from  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  U.  S.  A.  Which  one  felt  himself  to  be  a  part 
of  the  larger  organization? 

While  the  cost  elements  here  are  again  difficult  to  pull 
out  because  '*being  a  part  of  the  organization"  is  almost  the 
same  thing  as  some  other  cooperative  points  discussed,  a 
few  are  suggested  in  the  following  paragraph : 

Cost  Elements. — Among  the  cost  elements  here  might  be : 

(1)  The  loss  of  any  special  knowledge,  experience,  judg- 
ment, etc.,  that  a  man  could  contribute,  but  did  not. 

(2)  The  loss  to  the  man  himself  in  losing  a  chance  to 
work  with  others  on  a  job  of  general  benefit,  which  always 
means  that  everybody  on  that  job  has  gained  something  for 
himself  by  giving  to  others. 

(3)  An  increasing  tendency  to  also  fail  to  take  the 
trouble  to  cooperate  in  other  ways,  with  corresponding  in- 
creased cost  elements  there. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — Again  this  is  largely  a  case 
where  a  man  must  "manage"  himself.  As  a  "problem"  it  may 
be  stated  as  follows :  to  discharge  any  "organization  responsi- 
bilities" as  effectively  as  possible,  according  to  one's  ability 
and  the  opportunities  that  may  come  up  to  contribute. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^The  degree  to  which  this 
problem  can  be  dealt  with  effectively  depends  largely  on  a 


, 


41 

ir 


406 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


407 


man's  mental  attitude,  and  this  attitude,  in  turn  depends 
upon  a  number  of  things  among  which  are: 

1.  The  degree  to  which  his  interest  in  his  immediate  job 
shuts  out  everything  else.  For  example,  many  foremen  who 
could  contribute  a  great  deal  along  this  line  say,  "I  can't  do 
anything  because  my  job  takes  all  my  time  and  energy,"  and 
so,  for  illustration,  if  they  are  called  into  a  conference  on 
production  troubles  that  affect  the  work  in  their  own  de- 
partments, take  an  active  part,  but  contribute  little  or 
nothing  if  the  subject  lies  outside  of  their  own  direct  depart- 
mental responsibilities. 

2.  The  degree  to  which  a  man  is  too  modest.  Often  a  man 
that  could  contribute  a  great  deal,  who  has  had  a  lot  of 
experience  and  has  a  lot  of  special  knowledge  that  would  be 
of  great  value  will  fail  to  "come  across"  because  he  thinks, 
"I  don't  want  to  mix  into  this  thing:  I  don't  know  enough," 
while  some  "smooth  talker"  pitches  in  and  really  contributes 
little  or  nothing  that  is  of  real  value. 

3.  A  third  element  that  sometimes  comes  up,  though  not 
very  often,  is  a  state  of  mind  in  which  a  man  feels  that  he 
ought  not  to  be  asked  to  contribute  to  anything  that  he  feels 
is  "outside  of  his  job." 

Where  it  does  occur  this  "That's  up  to  the  Management : 
it's  none  of  my  business :  that's  not  what  I'm  paid  for"  state 
of  mind,  of  course,  prevents  a  man  from  properly  discharge 
ing  the  sort  of  cooperative  responsibilities  that  are  under 
discussion  here. 

Where  a  man  sees  his  own  job  so  big  that  he  cannot  see 
any  of  the  broader  responsibilities  that  go  with  "being  a  part 
of  the  organization,"  or  is  too  modest  to  help  when  he  could, 
his  job  is  to  get  out  of  that  state  of  mind.  How  he  will  do 
it  is  up  to  him,  but  that  is  his  job.  As  long  as  he  feels  that 
way  he  cannot  contribute  effectively  to  reduce  the  operation 
of  the  cost  elements  that  go  with  these  particular  responsi- 
bilities and  so,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  increases  the  cost 
due  to  poor  cooperation. 

Where  a  foreman  has  failed  in  these  special  lines,  it  is 


almost  always  due  to  the  fact  that  he  has  not  thought  of 
his  responsibilities  for  being  a  par^  of  the  organization  as 
a  part  of  his  job  rather  than  any  deliberate  unwillingness 
to  help  things  along.  It  is  really  a  question  of  the  extent 
to  which  he  sees  the  whole  of  his  job,  and  sees  the  different 
parts  in  their  true  relations  to  each  other.  It  is  as  if  a  man 
were  playing  first  base  on  a  ball  team  and  saw  only  his  job 
as  a  first  baseman  rather  than  seeing  that  job  as  a  part  of 
the  job  of  the  whole  team. 

Of  course,  the  above  discussion  is  only  suggestive :  in  each 
case  ways  and  means  must  be  worked  out  by  each  foreman 
according  to  his  special  conditions  and  the  organization  of 
the  plant,  but  the  degree  to  which  he  "manages"  himself  so 
that  he  feels  that  he  is  a  part  of  the  organization,  and  is 
ready  to  assist  in  any  way  that  he  can  to  help  improve  things 
as  a  whole,  because  he  has  got  himself  so  that  he  sees  the  whole 
of  his  job  and  see  it  as  a  part  of  the  job  of  the  whole  con- 
cern, will  be  the  degree  to  which  he  deals  successfully  with 
the  problem  of  **being  a  part  of  the  organization." 

F.    HANDLING  ORDEES  FEOM  "tHE   OFFICE"  INTELLIGENTLY 

Preliminary. — ^There  are  two  conditions  under  which  a 
foreman  receives  orders :  they  may  come : 

1.  From  "the  Office"  usually  transmitted  through  his  im- 
mediate superiors,  where  the  plant  is  of  any  size  and 

2.  From  his  immediate  superiors. 

That  is,  he  may  get  "general  orders"  or  "divisional" 
orders. 

Since  the  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems  are  in- 
dependent of  the  source  of  the  orders,  so  long  as  they  do  not 
originate  with  the  foreman  himself,  but  come  from  "above," 
they  are  not  taken  up  here  but  in  the  next  section  under  "Co- 
operating with  Immediate  Superiors." 

SECTION  n.  COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEMS  ON  CO- 
OPERATION  WITH    IMMEDIATE   SUPERIORS 

'    Preliminary. — ^As  pointed  out   in  previous  chapters,  a 
foreman  stands  between  the  actual  operating  force  on  the  one 


w 


i'M 


406 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


409 


hand  and  the  supervisory  and  managerial  force  on  the  other. 
To  his  superiors,  he  represents  the  men :  to  the  men,  he  repre- 
sents the  management. 

His  closest  and  direct  contact  point  "above"  is  his  imme- 
diate superior,  whoever  he  may  be.  From  the  "management 
side"  a  foreman's  immediate  superior  is  the  one  with  whom 
he  does  most  of  his  business,  especially  with  regard  to  the 
carrying  on  of  the  work  in  his  department.  The  degree  to 
which  a  foreman  and  his  immediate  superior  do,  or  do  not, 
cooperate,  therefore,  is  a  very  vital  matter  to  the  success  of 
the  plant  and  makes  one  of  the  important  cooperative  prob- 
lems with  which  a  foreman  must  deal. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  more  important  cost  ele- 
ments that  may  come  into  play  in  this  connection  are: 

(1)  Failure  to  fully  understand  orders,  directions  and 
suggestions  before  acting  upon  them,  due  to  lack  of  "back 
checking." 

(2)  Failure  to  ask  for  additional  orders  when  they  are 
necessary. 

(3)  Carrying  out  the  **letter"  instead  of  the  intent  of 
orders  and  suggestions,  "sticking  too  close  to  orders." 

(4)  Transmitting  orders  that  are  not  fully  understood. 

(5)  Failure  to  act  in  absence  of  orders;  "ducking 
responsibility." 

(6)  Failure  to  transmit  orders,  so  that  they  are  fully 
understood,  or  do  not  reach  the  people  for  whom  they 
are  intended. 

(7)  Failure  to  support  the  superior. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Some  points  that  may  have 
a  bearing  on  the  question  of  cooperating  with  immediate 
superiors  are  suggested  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Orders  Not  Fully  Understood— "Back  Checking."— As 
the  term  is  used  here,  **back  checking"  means,  in  a  case  where 
orders,  directions  or  suggestions  are  not  fully  understood, 
going  back  to  the  person  who  issued  the  order  and  getting  the 
doubtful  points  cleared  up  before  acting.  Back  checking 
should  be  preceded  by  a  careful  study  of  the  order,  direction 


or  suggestion  to  make  sure  that  there  are  or  are  not  any 
such  doubtful  points. 

The  danger  of  the  order  that  is  not  fully  understood 
comes  out  in  several  ways.  For  example,  in  such  a  case,  the 
order  may  be  carried  out  wrong,  because  it  was  misunder- 
stood, or  a  foreman,  in  carrying  it  out,  may  find  that  he  does 
not  fully  understand  it,  guess  at  what  was  meant  and  guess 
wrong.  The  damage  is  the  same  in  either  case.  Some  ways 
and  means  that  may  help  in  this  matter  are : 

1.  Making  sure  that  orders  and  other  communications 
are  fully  understood  before  acting  on  them  and  not  being 
ashamed  to  go  back  for  more  information  if  there  is  any 
doubt.  Of  course,  a  man  does  not  want  to  be  running  back 
to  his  superior  every  few  minutes  "to  make  sure  he  has  got 
it  just  right,"  nor  should  that  be  necessary,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  cheaper  to  go  back  than  do  the  wrong  thing,  nor 
need  any  man  feel  that,  when  the  matter  is  not  clear  to  him, 
his  dignity  or  his  brains  are  discounted  if  he  does  go  back, 
and  he  is  cooperating  with  his  superior  when  he  does  it. 
Another  point  in  this  connection  is  taking  sufficient 
time  to  "get"  an  order:  being  in  too  much  of  a  hurry 
has  caused  many  a  slip  in  carrying  out  orders,  directions 
and  suggestions. 

2.  Taking  a  chance  on  incomplete  orders  is  another  point 
to  look  out  for.  Where  such  a  slip  has  happened  it  should  be 
another  case  of  "back  checking"  and  not  guessing  as  good 
management  on  cooperation  with  the  superior. 

Asking  for  Additional  Orders. — ^It  will  sometimes  happen 
that  in  carrying  out  an  order  or  a  suggestion  some  unex- 
pected point  will  come  up  that  calls  for  some  action  not 
contemplated  when  the  orders  or  directions  were  issued,  or 
when  the  matter  was  first  talked  over.  Sometimes  under  these 
conditions  a  man  must  assume  responsibility  as  discussed  in 
the  paragraph  below,  he  can't  stop,  or  he  cannot  get  at  his 
superior,  he  must  go  on,  but  in  other  cases  good  cooperative 
management  would  require  going  back  for  additional  in- 
structions.    This  is  a  case  where  a  man  must  use  his  best 


410 


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COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


411 


judgment  according  to  the  special  conditions,  but  the  same 
general  principle  applies  here  as  in  the  matter  of  understand- 
ing orders,  a  man  will  not  cooperate  in  the  best  way  with 
his  superior  if  he  is  ashamed  or  reluctant  for  any  reason  to 
ask  for  additional  orders  or  directions  when  he  can  do  it  and 
feels  that  he  ought  to  do  it. 

Sticking  to  Orders. — ^A  man  who  takes  the  position,  "I 
get  my  orders  and  I  follow  them  no  matter  what  happens,"  is 
not  cooperating  with  his  superior.  Of  course,  no  good  fore- 
man takes  this  extreme  attitude,  but  there  is  a  question  but 
what  many  men  feel  that  when  they  have  their  orders  and 
carry  them  out  to  the  letter,  they  have  done  all  that  can  be 
expected  of  them.  It  does  sometimes  happen,  however,  that 
the  literal  reading  of  the  order  or  the  absolute  following  of 
the  directions  as  given  will  evidently  prevent  the  result  that 
the  giving  of  the  order  was  intended  to  secure.  For  an 
example,  the  mate  of  a  ship  is  told  by  the  captain,  "I  am 
going  to  turn  in,  don't  take  in  any  sail."  Later  in  the  watch 
the  mate  discovers  that  a  spar  is  sprung  and  unless  that  sail 
is  taken  in  serious  damage  may  result.  He  knows  that  the 
intention  of  the  order  was  to  get  the  best  speed  out  of  the 
ship,  and  that  carrying  a  certain  sail  is  not  the  real  point, 
he  therefore  takes  in  the  dangerous  sail  and  sets  another  in 
its  place.  He  has  followed  the  intention  of  the  order.  Had  he 
taken  the  position  of  "Obeying  orders  and  breaking  owners" 
as  it  used  to  be  called,  he  would  have  really  defeated  the 
intention  of  the  order,  for  the  loss  of  the  sail  and  spar  would 
have  crippled  the  ship  and  have  actually  reduced  her  speed. 

The  point  here  is  that,  under  good  cooperative  conditions, 
there  is  a  managerial  responsibility  for  seeing  that  the  intent 
of  an  order  is  accomplished.  Tliis  may  mean  acting,  back 
checking,  getting  additional  instructions,  and  so  on,  accord- 
ing to  conditions  and  judgment,  but  a  good  manager  will 
try  to  see  that  it  is  done :  a  poor  manager  relies  on  the  letter 
of  the  order  or  direction  and  feels  that  he  has  no  further 
responsibility.  If  things  go  wrong,  saying  "I  did  it  exactly 
as  you  told  me  to"  does  not  entirely  cover  the  case. 


Of  course,  if  a  foreman's  immediate  superior  says  to  him, 
"I  want  all  orders  followed  exactly:  I'll  do  all  the  thinking 
on  this  job,"  or,  "You  do  as  I  tell  you:  that's  all  I  want," 
the  management  is  bad  on  the  side  of  the  superior,  and  all 
that  the  foreman  can  do  is  to  obey  orders  even  if  he  "breaks 
owners,"  but  he  would  better  make  such  an  order  a  matter 
of  record,  because  in  case  something  happens  that  he  could 
have  prevented,  he  may  get  called  "on  the  carpet,"  and  the 
matter  go  "higher  up." 

"Ducking  Responsibility." — ^Reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  case  where  a  man  must  either  take  responsibility 
or  "duck"  it. 

Of  course,  this  is  practically  a  case  of  emergency,  but 
under  such  conditions  cases  will  come  up  where  a  subordinate 
must  either  modify  orders  or  let  things  go  wrong.  Just 
what  should  be  done  under  such  conditions  depends  so  much 
on  the  special  case  that  no  general  rule  can  be  set  up,  but 
there  are  sometimes  situations  where  a  man  must  act  if  he 
is  going  to  cooperate.  This  subject  is  not  carried  further 
here  but  is  suggested  as  one  well  worth  discussion. 

Transmitting  Orders  When  They  are  not  Fully  Under- 
stood.— As  already  pointed  out,  under  some  conditions  a 
foreman  may  have  the  responsibility  for  transmitting  orders 
from  his  superiors  to  his  operating  force.  Where  this  is  the 
case  the  cost  elements  and  the  ways  and  means  are  essentially 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  receiving  orders  as  just  considered. 

Backing  Up  Immediate  Superiors. — ^This  is  another  case 
of  "knocking"  and  the  discussion  as  given  in  the  preced- 
ing section  applies  just  as  well  here.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  repeated. 

Transmitting  Instructions  so  That  They  are  Under- 
stood.— ^Under  some  conditions,  a  foreman  may  receive  orders 
or  directions  from  his  inmiediate  superior  of  a  sort  that  make 
it  necessary  to  reissue  part  of  this  order  to  his  men.  As  in 
the  case  of  orders  when  given  directly,*  the  general  points 

♦Chapter  XIV. 


412 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


413 


mi' 


II 


apply  and  so  are  not  taken  up  here,  but,  if  the  reissuing  of 
a  part  of  such  an  order  is  necessary,  one  important  way  in 
which  a  foreman  can  cooperate  is  to  see  that  such  orders  as 
he  reissues  are  so  set  up  that  the  men  who  get  them  will 
understand  them.  A  foreman  is  closer  to  the  working  force 
than  anyone  else  and  so  knows  them  better  and  therefore 
knows  how  to  word  orders  so  that  they  will  be  clear.  As  an 
extreme  illustration  of  what  is  meant,  suppose  all  the  operat- 
ing force  spoke  Italian,  but  little,  or  no,  English,  and  a  part 
of  an  order  from  above  had  to  be  reissued;  the  original 
order  being  in  English.  If  the  foreman  spoke  Italian,  or 
could  get  the  "reissue  orders"  put  up  in  Italian,  evidently 
they  are  much  more  likely  to  be  understood  than  if  they  were 
given  in  English,  and  to  do  this  would  be  good  cooperation 
with  the  immediate  superior. 

Getting  Transmitted  or  Reissued  Orders  to  the  Right 

People. — Again,  this  is  another  case  of  giving  orders  as  al- 
ready discussed,  and  so  is  not  taken  up  further  here,  except 
to  point  out  that  here  again,  under  some  conditions,  "re- 
issued" orders  may  affect  only  certain  people  and  a  foreman 
will  cooperate  with  his  immediate  superior  in  proportion  as 
he  sees  that  only  those  people  get  the  orders,  and  that  all 
get  them  who  should. 

For  example,  two  foremen  may  have  the  job  of  trans- 
mitting, or  reissuing  orders  to  a  part  of  their  operating 
force:  one  foreman  merely  sticks  the  orders  on  a  bulletin 
board  and  trusts  that  the  right  men  will  see  them ;  the  other 
foreman  sees  to  it  that  the  right  men  get  them  by  issuing  the 
orders  directly  to  them.  The  second  foreman  has  done  a 
better  cooperating  job.  Another  case  worth  mentioning  is 
that  of  telling  one  man  to  "tell  the  rest  of  the  gang."  For 
example,  in  a  shipyard,  the  riveting  boss  issues  orders  to  the 
foremen  of  the  chippers  and  caulkers  that  all  men  on  certain 
jobs  must  wear  goggles,  because  the  special  steel  to  be 
worked  on  is  particularly  dangerous  on  account  of  flying 
chips.  One  foreman  tells  one  of  the  chippers  to  tell  the  other 
men  on  that  job;  thq  other  foreman  instructs  directly  each 


man  to  whom  the  order  applies.  The  second  foreman  has 
given  the  better  cooperation  to  his  immediate  superior  and 
so  has  cut  costs  more  than  the  first  foreman  has  done. 

SECTION  in.   COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAIi   PEOBLEMS   ON 
COOPERATION  WITH  OTHER  FOREMEN 

Preliminary. — ^Working  in  cooperation  with  other  fore- 
men probably  calls  for  more  good  management  than  any 
other  form  of  cooperation  that  comes  up  in  "team  work." 
Of  course,  no  man  wants  to  "meddle"  with  another  man's 
job,  or  to  "butt  in,"  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  takes  the 
position  that  "The  other  man's  job  is  none  of  my  business," 
or  "I'll  stick  to  my  job  and  he  can  stick  to  his,"  costs  are 
liable  to  be  increased.  Some  points  in  connection  with  co- 
operating with  other  foremen  are  therefore  considered  in 
this  section. 

It  is  a  fact  that  a  man  is  often  more  sensitive  to  any 
"interference"  by  another  man  having  equal  authority  than 
he  is  in  the  case  of  any  superior,  or  even  a  subordinate,  and 
this  often  makes  matters  of  this  kind  particularly  difficult  to 
handle  effectively,  but  the  cooperative  job  is  there  and  the 
degree  to  which  matters  of  cooperation  between  foremen  is 
well  or  poorly  worked  out  may  affect  costs  seriously,  and  so 
IS  worth  careful  consideration. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  cost  elements  that  may 
affect  this  matter  are: 

(1)  Where  one  department  "feeds  into  another,"  failure 
of  the  foreman  of  the  receiving  department  to  promptly 
notify  the  foreman  of  the  "feeding"  department  of  any  fall- 
ing off  in  quantity  or  quality,  or  to  keep  the  right  balance. 
(Failure  to  cooperate  on  production.) 

(2)  Failure  of  a  foreman  in  one  department  to  "tip  ofT' 
a  foreman  in  another  department,  when  it  comes  to  the 
attention  of  foreman  number  one  that  things  are  going  wrong 
with  foreman  number  two. 

(3)  Foreman  in  different  departments  "sticking"  each 


414 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


415 


other  (as  in  the  case  of  "passing  over"  undesirable  workers), 
each  man  "looking  out  for  his  own." 

(4)  Basing  cooperation  or  lack  of  cooperation  on  per- 
sonal friendship  or  liking  instead  of  on  the  good  of  the  con- 
cern.   (Making  cooperation  impersonal.) 

(5)  Not  "appreciating  the  other  fellow's  troubles." 
The  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  managerial  problem  here 

is  very  plain  and  simple.  It  is  to  reduce  costs  by  helping 
the  other  fellow  all  that  is  possible,  but  doing  it  in  such  a 
way  that  there  can  be  no  charge  of  "butting  in." 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — The  successful  management 
of  cooperation  between  foremen,  or  any  case  of  cooperation 
between  people  of  equal  but  distinct  authority,  calls  for  so 
much  tact  and  judgment  applied  to  each  special  case  that  the 
matter  can  be  taken  up  only  in  a  general  way.  Each  fore- 
man must  act  in  each  case  according  to  his  best  judgment, 
but  a  few  points  worth  considering  with  regard  to  the  cost 
elements  suggested  are  given  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Cooperating  on  Production. — Some  foremen,  thinking 
only  of  their  own  department,  feel  that  the  more  they  can 
"jam"  the  next  man  the  more  they  are  helping  the  company, 
or  they  feel  that  if  they  fall  off  and  so  "starve"  the  next 
department  it  is  just  their  own  trouble.  Of  course,  when  a 
man  sees  his  job  as  a  part  of  the  whole  this  sort  of  thing 
will  not  happen,  but  whatever  the  cause,  where  foremen  are 
cooperating  as  they  should  good  management  will  try  to 
avoid  either  jamming  or  starving.  Of  course,  where  the  pro- 
duction of  each  department  is  handled  by  a  Production  Con- 
trol Department  it  is  a  case  of  cooperating  with  another 
department,  as  considered  in  the  following  section,  but,  in 
many  plants,  balance  of  production  is  practicaljy  in  the 
hands  of  the  foremen  and,  in  such  cases  good  or  poor  co- 
operation makes  a  great  difference  in  costs.  For  example, 
if  it  is  good  the  "smnpage"  (amount  of  material  in  depart- 
mental storage  waiting  to  be  worked  up  or  piled  up  between 
operations)  is  kept  down,  the  distribution  of  the  working 
force  is  not  upset,  idle  load  is  kept  down  to  the  minimum. 


Under  such  "feeding"  conditions  between  departments  one 
foreman  can  cooperate  with  another  by  setting  up  some  ar- 
rangement whereby  they  keep  posted  on  the  condition  in  each 
other's  departments  and  "one  fellow  looks  out  for  the  other," 
in  a  way.  If  a  foreman  is  willing  to  cooperate  he  will  handle 
his  own  production  so  far  as  he  can  so  as  to  balance  with  the 
other  fellow  and  he  will  not  say,  "  My  business  is  mine  and 
his  business  is  his,  and  that  is  where  I  get  off."  Of  course, 
this  point  cannot  be  taken  up  from  the  standpoint  of  detailed 
ways  and  means  because  it  calls  for  "  job  knowledge  "  as  to 
how  to  do  it,  so  the  points  can  only  be  raised  for  discussion 
in  conferences. 

"Tipping  Off." — ^Any  foreman  as  he  goes  about  the  plant 
sees  things  that  affect  the  effectiveness  of  the  work  of  the 
other  foremen.  If  he  only  feels  responsibility  for  his  own 
department  and,  when  he  sees  something  of  the  kind,  thinks, 
"Well,  that  will  make  trouble  for  him,  but  it's  none  of  my 
business,"  he  is  not  cooperating. 

These  cases  come  up  in  all  sorts  of  ways  and  in  each 
case  a  foreman  has  to  use  his  best  judgment  in  dealing  with 
them,  but  if  cooperative  conditions  are  good,  there  is  always 
some  way  of  managing  the  matter  so  as  to  prevent  increased 
costs  and  at  the  same  time  keep  from  "meddling."  The  gen- 
eral managerial  problem  is  for  all  foremen  to  set  up  such 
good  cooperative  relations  that  this  can  be  done.  One  im- 
portant point  here  is  that  each  fellow  knows  that  all  the 
other  men  are  out  to  help  him  and  not  to  get  him:  that  is, 
there  must  be  entire  confidence  in  the  good  intentions  and 
good  faith  of  all  concerned.  There  is  no  better  way  of  bring- 
ing this  about  than  conferences  where  matters  of  this  kind 
are  discussed  frankly  and  honestly  and  men  get  to  know  each 
other,  and  this  is  one  of  the  best  ways  of  dealing  managerially 
with  the  problem  of  cooperation  between  foremen. 

"Sticking  the  Other  Fellow." — ^A  good  example  of  this  is 
where  a  foreman  has  a  man  in  his  department  who,  for  some 
reason,  he  wants  to  get  rid  of  but  does  not  want  to  discharge. 
He  goes  to  another  foreman  and  tells  him  that  this  man  is 


410 


THE  FOREBiAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


417 


just  the  man  that  he  wants,  although  he  knows  that  the  man 
is  no  more  use  in  the  other  department  than  he  is  in  his  own. 
He  succeeds  in  getting  the  other  foreman  to  get  the  man  in 
question  transferred  and  thinks  that  he  has  done  a  good  job 
because  he  has  got  the  man  out  of  his  own  department  and 
that  is  all  that  he  cares  about.  He  has  failed  to  cooperate 
with  the  other  foreman  just  as  in  any  other  case  of  "selling 
a  gold  brick" :  he  has  "stuck"  the  other  fellow. 

A  case  of  this  kind  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  case  where  the  first  foreman  actually  believes  that  the 
man  will  really  make  good  on  the  job  in  the  other  depart- 
ment: such  a  case  would  be  real  cooperation  with  the  other 
foreman  and  with  the  management.  In  such  a  case  there  is 
no  gold  brick  involved. 

The  same  thing  might  come  up  in  regard  to  an  equipment 
unit  or  in  some  other  way  "unloading"  something  undesir- 
able on  the  other  fellow,  but  the  underlying  point  is  that 
when  a  man  does  this  he  sees  only  the  advantage  to  himself 
and  does  not  think  of  the  damage  to  others, 

A  man  who  has  the  cooperative  spirit  will  not  resort  to 
unloading  or  sticking :  in  proportion  as  he  does  it  he  is  a  poor 
manager:  if  he  does  not  do  it  he  is  a  good  manager.  It  is 
up  to  any  foreman  to  decide  how  good  or  poor  a  manager  he 
will  be  in  this  respect. 

Personal  Friendship  and  Cooperation. — Some  men  think 
that  cooperation  is  a  matter  of  personal  liking :  they  will  co- 
operate with  a  friend,  or  with  somebody  that  they  like,  but 
see  no  call  to  even  try  to  cooperate  with  people  whom  they 
dislike  or  do  not  know.  Such  men  reserve  the  right  to  co- 
operate or  not,  according  to  their  likes  and  dislikes:  they 
make  cooperation  a  personal  matter  instead  of  a  "team" 
matter. 

Such  people  are  looking  at  the  matter  of  cooperation 
from  the  wrong  angle :  they  think  of  it  as  doing  a  favor  in- 
stead of  discharging  a  responsibility.  They  have  the  wrong 
slant  on  the  proposition  and  to  the  extent  to  which  they  base 
cooperation  on  personal  friendship  or  liking  they  do  a  poor 


managerial  job  so  far  as  cooperative  responsibilities  are 
concerned.  It  is  unquestionably  easier  to  cooperate  with  a 
man  that  you  know  and  like  than  it  is  to  work  with  a  man 
that  you  don't  know  or  don't  like,  but  this  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  matter  of  cooperating. 

The  only  true  basis  for  cooperation  between  any  two 
people  is  that  they  are  both  working  on  the  same  job:  mem- 
bers of  the  same  team  and  cooperation  is  necessary  to  get  the 
job  done  cheaper. 

"Inability  to  Cooperate." — Sometimes  a  man  will  say, 
"Jones  and  I  can't  cooperate:  we  can't  get  along.  It's  no 
use  to  try.  We  have  both  tried^to  get  together  and  we  can't 
do  it."  Where  such  a  condition  has  come  about  it  can  only 
be  said,  first,  that  when  two  square  men  are  on  the  same  job 
and  really  want  to  get  that  job  done  as  well  as  possible,  they 
can  get  together  on  a  cooperative  basis.  If  they  are  so  con- 
stituted for  any  reason  that  they  can't  do  it,  one  or  both 
ought  to  quit  and  let  their  places  be  filled  by  two  people  who 
can  work  together  for  the  good  of  the  team.  As  long  as  such 
a  situation  exists  the  team  is  damaged  and  costs  are  increased. 
While  the  above  discussion  applies  more  especially  to  the 
case  of  cooperation  between  foremen  it  applies  as  well  to  any 
sort  of  cooperation  as  discussed  in  this  chapter. 

"Appreciating  the  Other  Fellow's  Troubles." — ^A  man 
naturally  feels  "stirred  up"  about  his  own  troubles  and  tends 
to  forget  that  the  other  fellow  is  having  just  as  many,  and 
that  he  is  just  as  worried.  Stopping  and  thinking  of  this 
fact  will  often  help  a  man  to  "keep  cool"  and  sometimes 
allowing  for  the  other  fellow's  "blowing  up"  or  seeming  un- 
reasonable. In  all  cooperation  there  must  be  "give  and 
take"  if  it  is  to  be  the  most  effective.  "Appreciating  the  other 
fellow's  trouble,"  therefore,  is  one  of  the  ways  and  means 
for  getting  and  improving  cooperation  between  foremen.  For 
example,  a  foreman  has  a  breakdown  and  puts  in  a  work 
order  to  the  maintenance  department  for  repairs,  his  pro- 
duction meantime  being  held  up.  If  the  maintenance  depart- 
ment does  not  get  right  on  the  job,  or  does  not  start  in  when 
87 


3 


418 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


419 


they  said  they  would,  because  they  got  behind  on  another 
job  and  want  to  finish  that,  it  is  hard  to  keep  from  thinking 
sometimes  that  the  foreman  of  the  maintenance  department 
is  not  doing  all  he  can  to  help  you  out,  though  he  undoubtedly 
is  doing  just  that  thing.  He  has  his  troubles,  too.  The  story 
is  told  of  Greneral  Grant  that  somebody  asked  him  once  how 
he  got  along  with  all  his  troubles  and  he  said  that  it  was 
because  he  had  learned  to  realize  that  the  enemy  had  just 
as  many,  and  that  when  things  went  wrong  he  thought  of 
that  and  it  always  made  him  feel  better.  Something  of  the 
same  idea  will  help  in  keeping  up  good  cooperative  relations, 
especially  when  things  go  wrong.  It  may  help  to  "put  grease 
in  the  gear  box"  of  the  organization  instead  of  sand. 

Backing  Up  Other  Departments. — ^The  discussion  as  to 
*'knocking"  the  management  or  immediate  superior  applies 
here  as  well.  Some  men  have  an  unfortunate  habit  of  uncon- 
sciously making  remarks  that  disparage  the  work  of  other 
departments — "Bill  is  having  a  lot  of  trouble"  if  spoken 
where  others,  especially  members  of  the  working  force,  hear  it, 
may  hurt  BUI  and  certainly  will  do  no  good,  even  if  it  is  true. 
If  it  is  true,  the  less  said  the  better  and  if  it  is  not  true  it 
ought  not  to  be  said  at  all. 

SECTION   IV.    COST   ELEMENTS  AND   MANAGERIAL    PROBLEMS   ON 
COOPERATION   WITH  SPECIAL  DEPARTMENTS 

Preliminary. — ^The  cooperative  problems  discussed  so  far 
have  all  been  in  what  may  be  called  direct  relations  on  the 
production  side,  as,  for  example,  cooperation  between  a  fore- 
man and  his  immediate  superior  or  the  General  Management. 
There  is,  however,  another  case  worth  consideration  in  which, 
while  the  same  general  responsibilities  exist  and  the  same 
managerial  problems  come  up,  the  details  work  out  some- 
what differently,  and  that  is  the  case  of  cooperation  with 
special  departments.  This  case  is,  therefore,  taken  up  sep- 
arately in  this  section. 

What  is  Meant  by  Special  Departments. — ^The  sense  in 
which  this  term  is  used  is  given  in  a  former  chapter  and  so  is 
not  repeated  here  except  to  state,  for  convenience,  that  it 


refers  to  such  departments  as  a  Safety  Department,  a  Per- 
sonnel Department,  an  Employment  Department,  etc.,  that 
is,  a  department  established  to  render  a  special  service. 

Cooperative  Responsibilities. — ^Where  such  departments 
are  a  part  of  the  plant  organization  the  same  general  mutual 
cooperative  responsibilities  exist  as  in  the  other  cases  men- 
tioned: their  job  is  to  help  the  foreman  and  his  job  is  to  help 
them,  and  the  better  both  jobs  are  done  the  better  for 
the  concern. 

Helping  Them  Along. — ^A  foreman  can  do  much  or  little 
to  help  along  special  departments.  Much  depends  upon  the 
interest  that  he  takes  in  what  they  are  trying  to  do.  If  their 
work  bears  upon  the  working  force,  as  in  the  case  of  a  medical 
or  welfare  department,  on  account  of  his  close  relation  to  his 
men,  a  foreman  can  do  more  than  anybody  else  to  help  them 
along  or  to  hinder  them.  Reference  has  been  made  in  a  num- 
ber of  places  to  ways  in  which  this  helping  along  could  be 
done,  as  in  connection  with  a  medical  department  and  in- 
cipient disease,  in  spotting  cases  that  may  need  medical  atten- 
tion, and  so  on.  Other  cases  have  been  brought  up  in  various 
other  chapters  so  that  no  special  consideration  of  cost  ele- 
ments and  managerial  problems  is  needed. 

Where  such  departments  are  a  part  of  the  organization, 
if  a  foreman  feels  that  he  has  a  cooperating  responsibility 
he  can  find  all  sorts  of  ways  of  helping  them  along  and  so 
enabling  them  to  do  a  better  job.  If  he  does  not  feel  any 
cooperating  responsibilities  he  may  be  sure  that  he  is  reduc- 
ing the  value  of  their  work  and  so  increasing  cost. 

Cost  Elements. — ^Among  the  more  important  cost  ele- 
ments that  may  come  into  play  here  are : 

1.  Failure  on  the  part  of  the  foreman  to  acquaint  him- 
self with  the  job  that  the  special  department  is  trying  to  do. 

2.  Failure  on  the  part  of  the  special  department  to  ac- 
quaint itself  with  the  foreman's  job. 

3.  Feeling  on  the  part  of  the  foreman  that  the  special 
department  is  "butting  in"  on  his  job. 

4.  Feeling  on  the  part  of  the  foreman  that  the  work  of 
such  a  special  department  is  "none  of  his  business  anyway." 


420 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


Of  course,  all  of  the  above  cost  elements  will  not  come 
into  play  in  any  one  case,  and  others  will  come  up,  but  the 
above  have  come  up  in  the  conference  discussion  on  many 
cases  and  so  are  considered  in  this  section. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — Wherever  such  special  de- 
partments are  a  part  of  the  organization  the  managerial 
problem  for  the  foreman  is  to  cooperate  in  all  possible  ways 
to  help  such  a  department  to  do  its  job  as  well  as  possible, 
in  order  to  promote  the  success  of  the  organization. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^Among  the  ways  and  means 
for  dealing  with  this  problem  effectively  are : 

1.  Taking  time  to  find  out  what  the  special  department  is 
trying  to  do. 

2.  Seeing  that  the  special  department  is  "educated"  as 
to  the  foreman's  job. 

3.  Finding  out  where  the  special  department  can  make 
the  foreman's  job  easier:  where  it  can  help. 

4.  Helping  the  special  department  to  do  its  job  wherever 
possible,  and  taking  pains  to  find  out  where  it  can  be  helped 
inside  of  the  department. 

Finding  Out  What  the  Special  Department  is  Trying 
to  Do.— If  two  people  are  to  cooperate,  each  must  know  what 
the  other  is  trying  to  do  and  one  of  the  best  ways  and  means 
that  a  foreman  can  use  in  cooperating  with  a  special  depart- 
ment is  to  find  out  what  that  department  is  doing  and  keep 
posted  on  its  work.  Conferences  between  foreman  and  who- 
ever is  in  charge  of  the  special  department  in  question  will  go 
far  to  bring  about  mutual  understanding.  If  the  foreman 
and  the  head  of  the  special  department  could  get  together 
in  an  informal  meeting  once  in  a  while,  it  would  be  a  mighty 
good  way  to  help  things  along. 

For  example,  in  some  cases  that  have  been  discussed  in 
foremen's  conferences  in  the  past,  it  has  appeared  that  there 
was  considerable  friction  between  the  Employment  Depart- 
ment and  the  foremen:  they  were  pulling  apart  instead  of 
working  together,  because  the  foremen  had  never  found  out 
what  the  Employment  Department  was  trying  to  do  in  the 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPEBATION 


way  of  getting  them  the  sort  of  help  that  could  do  the  best 
jobs,  and  it  was  not  until  the  matter  had  been  thrashed  out 
in  conference  that  the  foremen  discovered  that,  if  they  would 
tell  the  Employment  Department  just  what  the  requirements 
of  the  job  were,  that  department  would  be  only  too  glad  to 
get  that  information  instead  of  merely  a  requisition  for  so 
many  men,  and,  with  that  information,  could  do  its  job  very 
much  better. 

Another  illustration  of  failure  to  cooperate  because  of 
ignorance  as  to  what  a  special  department  was  trying  to  do, 
came  up  in  a  shipyard  during  the  war.  A  training  depart- 
ment had  been  established  to  quickly  and  thoroughly  train 
green  men  for  the  "  yard  trades  "  (riveting,  chipping  and 
caulking,  etc.),  and  in  order  to  make  this  training  work 
effective  it  was  necessary  to  secure  certain  kinds  of  jobs  for 
training  at  certain  times.  The  foremen  felt  that  picking  out 
certain  jobs  and  giving  them  to  the  Training  Department 
was  taking  away  work  for  which  they  were  responsible  and 
holding  back  production,  and  it  did  unquestionably  make 
more  or  less  additional  trouble.  The  foremen,  therefore, 
would  not  cooperate:  they  would  only  do  as  much  as  they 
had  to.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  there  was  in  operation 
in  that  yard  a  Training  Center  operated  by  the  Emergency 
Fleet  that  was  showing  some  of  the  good  workers  how  to 
apply  some  of  the  tricks  of  the  teaching  trade  to  the  job  of 
teaching  green  men,  and  some  of  the  foremen  became  inter- 
ested in  what  was  going  on  there.  As  a  result  quite  a  number 
of  them  asked  for  some  meetings  in  order  that  they  might 
find  out  what  the  whole  thing  was  about.  When,  as  a  result 
of  those  meetings,  they  found  out  that  the  Training  Depart- 
ment was  on  the  job  to  save  them  the  drag  of  trying  to  build 
ships  with  perfectly  green  men  and  to  give  them  men  who 
could  do  a  job,  and  that,  in  order  to  do  its  job  it  must  have 
these  special  training  jobs  when  a  certain  kind  of  a  job  was 
needed  to  further  train  a  man  who  had  reached  a  certain 
point  in  his  training,  they  were  perfectly  ready  to  help,  and 
to  cooperate  with  the  Training  Department  along  any  lines. 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


"Educating"  the  Special  Department  as  to  the  Foreman's 
Job. — ^Not  only  is  a  foreman  often  ignorant  of  the  job  of  a 
special  department,  but  it  is  often  just  as  true  that  a  special 
department  tries  to  play  a  lone  hand  and  does  not  know  what 
the  jobs  of  the  different  foremen  are,  what  special  conditions 
they  have  to  work  under  and  what  are  their  managerial 
problems.  In  consequence,  in  some  cases,  such  a  department, 
say  a  Welfare  Department,  has  tried  to  put  over  something 
that,  as  proposed,  was  quite  impossible  under  the  working 
conditions,  and  which  could  not  be  handled  successfully  as 
proposed.  For  example,  in  one  shipyard,  a  service  depart- 
ment undertook  to  stop  all  gambling  at  the  noon  hour.  Aside 
from  the  question  as  to  whether  gambling  is,  or  is  not,  wrong, 
which  does  not  enter  into  the  discussion,  with  a  force  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  many  of  whom  had  played  craps  since 
they  were  babies,  the  proposition  was  impossible  of  enforce- 
ment and  every  practical  man  in  the  yard  knew  it.  This  was 
a  case  where  it  was  up  to  the  foremen  and  other  officers  to 
educate  this  department  in  the  actual  working  conditions  so 
that  it  would  be  plain  to  that  department  that  the  regulation, 
as  proposed,  could  not  be  effective. 

As  another  example,  in  one  case  it  appeared  that  the  Em- 
ployment Department  was  sometimes  taking  a  week  to  act 
on  requisitions  for  help  and  nobody  in  that  department  had 
thought  that  when  a  foreman  needs  men  he  needs  them  as 
quickly  as  he  can  get  them.  In  this  case  the  Employment 
Department,  one  that  had  been  newly  organized  under  the 
pressure  of  war  conditions,  evidently  was  not  educated  to 
the  real  conditions  under  which  it  could  give  effective  service 

to  foremen. 

Since  a  foreman  knows  more  about  his  job  than  anybody 
else  can  know  it  is  up  to  him  to  go  more  than  half  way  in 
educating  special  departments  to  see  just  how  thej'^  can  help 
him  to  the  best  advantage,  and  it  is  a  part  of  his  managerial 

job  to  do  so. 

Feeling  that  the  Special  Department  is  "Butting  In." — 
In  some  cases,  especially  where   some   special  department 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


423 


comes  into  a  plant  that  has  been  in  operation  for  a  long  time, 
where  the  foremen  have  been  used  to  taking  care  of  the  whole 
job  themselves,  foremen  feel  that  the  new  department  is  "butt- 
ing in"  on  their  job.     For  example,  a  safety  department  is 
organized  to  make  a  special  job  of  the  promotion  of  safety. 
Although  they  may  not  say  so,  some  foremen  think  that  they 
have  been  taking  care  of  the  matter  of  safety  all  right  and 
they  rather  resent  giving  that  job  to  a  special  department. 
The  same  might  be  true  of  a  special  routing  department  and 
especially  true  in  many  cases  where  an  Employment  Depart- 
ment has  been  estabhshed  in  a  plant  where  the  foremen  have 
been  hiring  their  own  men.    In  such  cases  some  foremen  feel 
that  a  part  of  their  job  has  been  taken  away  from  them,  or 
that  the  special  department  is  only  going  to  "gum  things  up." 
When  a  man  feels  that  way  he  naturally  is  not  inclined  to  co- 
operate with  such  a  special  department  in  any  whole  hearted 
manner.  He  may  do  what  he  feels  that  he  has  to,  but  he  is  not 
going  very  far  out  of  his  way  to  help  things  along.     Some- 
times a  man  really  does  not  know  that  he  feels  that  way :  he 
honestly  thinks  that  he  is  willing  to  cooperate  but  his  uncon- 
scious feeling  of  antagonism  holds  him  back. 

Now  such  a  situation  is  a  bad  one  and  real  effective  co- 
operation cannot  come  about  as  long  as  it  exists,  and  a  fore- 
man who  feels  that  a  special  department  is  ''butting  into  his 
job,"  or  is  unconsciously  blocking  it,  has  a  managerial  job 
on  his  hands  to  get  himself  straightened  out.  In  the  first 
place,  no  management  is  going  to  the  expense  of  establishing 
a  special  department  unless  it  thinks  that  the  work  of  the 
organization  will  be  helped:  such  departments  are  not  set  up 
just  for  fun.  The  responsibility  for  cooperating  with  the 
Management,  therefore,  requires  that  every  member  of  the 
team  shall  cooperate  to  make  the  work  of  such  a  department 
as  successful  as  possible.  This  is  particularly  true  in  the 
case  of  the  foremen,  because  they  can  do  far  more  to  make  or 
break  the  proposition  than  anybody  else  in  the  plant. 

If  they  hang  back,  they  can  almost  prevent  any  proposi- 
tion from  being  really  successful.    If  they  help  it  along  it  is 


■Pl 


i 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


almost  certain  to  be  a  success.  A  special  responsibility, 
therefore,  rests  on  the  foremen  in  such  matters  to  help  a 
special  department  to  make  good,  not  so  much  for  the  sake 
of  the  department  itself  as  for  the  good  of  the  plant  and 
for  the  sake  of  cooperating  with  the  Management. 

One  way  in  which  a  foreman  can  help  "manage"  himself 
in  such  a  matter  is,  of  course,  to  find  out  what  such 
a  special  department  is  really  trying  to  do;  this  will  help 
a  lot,  but  in  addition  to  that  it  is  often  worth  while  for  a 
man  to  ask  himself  squarely,  "Am  I  really  cooperating  as 
effectively  as  I  might,  and  if  not,  why?"  Such  a  self  analysis 
is  sometimes  a  hard  thing  to  do  but  it  pays.  Sometimes, 
as  a  result  of  such  an  analysis,  a  man  will  find  that  he  has, 
without  thinking  much  about  it,  failed  to  cooperate  as  much 
as  he  knows  that  he  could  have  done  had  he  really  wanted  to. 

Another  point  that  may  be  worth  thinking  about  is  the 
fact  that  the  real  job  of  any  special  department  is  to  enable 
the  foremen  to  do  a  better  job  on  the  real  job,  supervision 
and  management,  and  to  relieve  them  of  "side  jobs"  that 
make  an  additional  drag.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  case 
of  the  shipyard  foremen  and  the  training  department  de- 
scribed in  the  last  paragraph.  The  whole  purpose  of  this 
department  was  to  ease  up  on  the  foremen,  and  as  soon  as 
they  saw  this  they  were  for  it. 

Helping  the  Special  Department  to  do  its  Job. — One  of 
the  most  practical  ways  in  which  a  foreman  can  cooperate 
with  a  special  department  is  to  help  it  to  do  its  job  where  such 
a  department  tries  to  get  information  into  the  hands  of  the 
men,  or  is  attempting  some  sort  of  an  educational  piece  of 
work.  For  example,  a  Safety  Department  is  promoting  the 
use  of  safety  devices  and  precautions,  the  most  effective  way 
by  which  a  foreman  can  cooperate  is  to  see  that  such  notices, 
posters,  etc.,  as  come  to  him  from  outside  of  his  department 
are  effectively  used, 

A  poster  showing  the  result  of  carelessness  comes  in: 
Foreman  A  sticks  it  up  anywhere  and  lets  it  go  at  that,  or 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


4S5 


chucks  it  into  his  desk  and  forgets  all  about  it.  Foreman  B 
takes  pains  to  see  that  it  is  put  up  in  a  place  where  every- 
body can  see  it  and  takes  special  pains  to  see  that  it  is  brought 
to  the  attention  of  all  of  his  men.  Foreman  B  is  doing  a 
better  cooperating  job  than  foreman  A  and  so  is  doing  more 
to  reduce  accident  cost.  The  same  thing  may  be  true  for  ^ 
other  cases.  Perhaps  some  leaflets  are  sent  in  describing  the 
new  opportunities  for  securing  training  if  injured,  as  is  now 
provided  under  the  National  Act  and  the  laws  of  many  states. 
This  is  something  new.  One  foreman  not  only  sees  to  it  that 
each  man  gets  the  leaflet  but  informs  himself  as  to  the  matter 
and  perhaps  even  calls  his  men  together  and  explains  it  to 
them,  the  other  foreman  leaves  them  in  a  pile  where  the  men 
can  take  one  as  they  go  out  and  does  nothing  more. 

The  first  foreman  has  done  a  better  cost  cutting  job  than 

the  second. 

Another  way  in  which  a  special  department  can  be  helped 
on  its  job  is  by  making  suggestions,  just  as  in  the  case  dis- 
cussed in  a  previous  section. 

Another  way  to  help  is  to  see  that  notices  and  posters 
are  not  left  after  they  lose  their  value  by  becoming  "old 
stuff."  Bulletin  boards  in  many  plants  will  show  many  such 
notices  and  posters  that  have  been  left  there  for  years,  are 
dirty,  defaced,  damaged.  Where  this  happens,  whoever  had 
the  responsibility  of  putting  them  up  did  not  think  much  of 

them  anyway. 

The  way  in  which  a  foreman  treats  any  material  that  may 
come  to  him  from  a  special  department  gives  the  operating 
force  an  accurate  idea  of  how  much  he  thinks  of  it  and  a 
foreman  can  easily  "queer"  the  Management  or  any  special 
department  by  not  taking  pains  to  use  properly  any  material 
that  he  receives  from  them  for  public  use  and  information. 

Backing  Them  Up. — ^It  is  also  true  that  the  success  of 
almost  any  special  department  will  be  largely  affected  by  the 
degree  to  which  they  are  backed  up  by  the  foreman  in  the 
plant.    The  attitude  of  the  foremen  will  be  largely  reflected 


426 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


427 


in  the  attitude  of  the  members  of  the  working  force.  This 
would  be  true,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  a  safety  department 
or  of  a  training  department  or  a  welfare  department. 

These  points  have  been  taken  up  elsewhere  from  a  some- 
what different  angle  and  so  have  not  been  gone  into  again 
here  in  any  detail,  but  in  general,  if  a  foreman  wants  to 
cooperate  with  any  special  department  the  "Don't  knock: 
boost"  principle  will  apply  here  just  as  well  as  in  any  other 
case.  A  foreman  can  at  least  do  these  things.  He  can  take 
time  to  find  out  what  a  special  department  is  trying  to  do, 
he  can  give  them  the  benefit  of  his  experience  to  help  them 
if  they  are  on  the  wrong  track,  and  he  can  give  them  useful 
pointers,  and  he  can  help  the  men  to  understand  what  they 
are  for  and  what  they  can  do  for  them.  Any  foreman  who 
feels  cooperative  responsibilities  can  at  least  do  this  much. 
If  he  does,  he  cuts  costs.  If  he  sits  like  a  crow  on  a  rail  fence 
and  just  cries,  "Caw,  caw,  caw,"  that  thing  is  no  good,  the 
people  running  it  don't  know  where  they  are  at,  it's  only  one 
more  new  f angled  idea!"  the  chances  are  that  the  overhead 
is  being  boosted  and  not  the  special  department, 

SECTION  V.    COST  ELEMENTS  AND  MANAGERIAL  PEOBLEMS  ON 
COOPEEATION  BETWEEN  THE  FOEEMAN  AND  THE 

OPEEATING  FORCE 
A. 

Preliminary. — ^In  a  former  chapter  it  was  pointed  out 
that  among  the  responsibilities  that  appear  on  the  lay-out 
of  the  foreman's  job  were  those  of  cooperating  with  the  oper- 
ating force  and  securing  their  cooperation. 

This  section  takes  up  some  of  the  cost  elements  and  man- 
agerial problems  that  come  up  in  connection  with  the  dis- 
charge of  these  cooperative  responsibilities,  both  from  the 
standpoint  of  giving  cooperation  and  securing  cooperation 
between  the  departmental  working  force  and  the  foreman. 

Cooperation  Always  Mutual. — In  the  preliminary  discus- 
sion on  cooperation  it  was  pointed  out  that  cooperation  al- 


ways works  both  ways  and  this  fact  has  been  assumed  all 
through  the  preceding  sections,  but  in  the  case  of  coopera- 
tion between  a  foreman  and  his  operating  force  this  fact 
becomes  so  important  that  the  two  sides  of  the  question  are 
discussed  separately  in  this  section,  first  from  the  stand- 
point of  giving  cooperation  and  second  from  the  standpoint 
of  securing  cooperation. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that,  up  to  this  time  all  the  cases 
of  cooperation  considered  were  between  foremen  and  other 
supervisors  or  executives :  Immediate  Superiors,  the  General 
Management,  other  foremen,  etc.,  that  is,  between  people 
whose  duty  was  to  cooperate  and  to  manage  so  that  mutual 
cooperation  would  be  as  effective  as  possible.     All  super- 
visors are  supposed  to  have  these  cooperative  responsibilities, 
are  assumed  to  know  that  they  have  them  and  to  know  how 
to  manage  so  as  to  get  the  best  possible  cooperation.    In  all 
cases  discussed  so  far  we  have  had  two  or  more  officers,  both 
of  whom  had  managerial  responsibilities  and  who  were  as- 
sumed to  know  that  they  had  them  and  to  know  how  to 
manage  so  as  to  get  the  best  results.     We  had  cooperation 
between  two  managers.     In  the  case  of  a  foreman  and  the 
departmental  operating  force  the  case  is  somewhat  different. 
Cooperation   Between  a  Foreman  and  the   Operating 
Force.— In  the  case  of  any  officer  and  the  operating  force 
the  problem  is  different  because  the  management  part  of  the 
problem  is  up  to  the  officer  only.    The  members  of  the  oper- 
ating force  may  have  cooperating  responsibilities  but  they 
are  paid  to  carry  on  work  jobs,  not  to  manage,  so  that  m  this 
case  the  officer  has  the  responsibility  of  managing  on  both 
sides,  of  cooperating  and  of  securing  cooperation  from  people 
who  cannot  be  assumed  to  know  how  to  manage  and  who 
cannot  be  held  responsible  for  a  failure  along  that  line.    They 
may  feel  that  they  should  cooperate  and  they  may  want  to 
cooWe,  but  it  is  the  job  of  the  foreman  to  supply  the 
managerial  knowledge  and  guide  them  in  getting  the  most 
effective  cooperation,  as  well  as,  in  many  cases,  gettmg  them 


428 


THE  FOREBiAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


to  feel  that  they  have  cooperating  responsibilities  at  all. 
In  this  section  the  matter  is,  therefore,  taken  up  in  two 
parts,  B,  cooperating  with  the  working  force,  and  C,  securing 
cooperation  from  the  members  of  the  operating  force,  each 
setting  up  its  own  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems. 

B.    COOPEEATING  WITH   THE   WORKING   FOBCE 

Preliminary. — ^Many  foremen  who  are  entirely  clear  as  to 
the  necessity  for  securing  cooperation  from  the  members  of 
the  operating  force  are  not  clear  as  to  the  possibility  of 
cooperating  with  them.  Of  course,  the  point  turns  on  what 
is  meant  by  cooperation.  In  a  number  of  conference  discus- 
sions it  has  turned  out  that  the  very  foremen  who  said  that 
they  did  not  see  how  it  could  be  done  and  that  they  certainly 
were  not  doing  any  of  it,  were  really  doing  a  great  deal  in  the 
way  of  cooperating  with  their  operating  force.  They  simply 
had  not  thought  of  it  in  that  light. 

If  the  definition  of  cooperation  given  earlier  in  this 
book,  "Doing  something  that  you  don't  have  to  do  to  help 
the  other  fellow  do  a  better  job,"  is  correct,  then  all  foremen 
are  doing  a  great  deal  to  cooperate  with  their  men,  and  some 
consideration  of  the  cost  elements  and  managerial  problems 
is  worth  while. 

Cost  Elements. — Among  the  cost  elements  here  might  be : 

1.  Making  working  conditions  easier. 

2.  Making  production  conditions  easier. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem 
here  might  be  stated  in  this  way :  to  do  whatever  can  be  done 
to  enable  the  working  force  to  do  their  jobs  as  well,  as  easily 
and  as  comfortably  as  possible,  or,  as  it  is  often  expressed, 
**to  look  out  for  the  men." 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— A  man  has  to  do  a  job  of 
a  certain  kind:  he  has  to  work  on  certain  materials  with 
certain  tools  or  machines  and  carry  out  certain  operations 
or  processes.  That  is  his  job.  Any  job  has  to  be  carried 
on  under  certain  working  conditions.  For  example,  in  a 
shipyard  riveting  must  be  carried  on  out  of  doors;  in  the 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


429 


fire  room  of  a  steamer  the  work  must  be  carried  on  at  a  high 
temperature ;  in  a  machine  shop  the  work  must  be  carried  on 
under  cover  on  account  of  the  machines ;  a  sewer  must  be  dug 

out  of  doors. 

Now,  while  these  working  conditions  cannot  be  changed, 
as  such,  riveting  cannot  be  carried  on  in  the  winter  in  a 
steam  heated  shop,  or  digging  a  sewer  in  summer  in  a  nice 
shady  place,  out  of  the  sun,  the  leader  can,  if  he  wishes,  do 
a  good  deal  to  make  things  easier  within  the  limits  of  the 
necessary  working  conditions  and  to  that  extent  help  the 
men  to  do  the  job  easier  and  better.  The  leader  does  not  have 
to  do  this,  he  could  not  be  "called  down"  by  his  superior  for 
not  doing  it,  but  if  he  does  do  it  he  cooperates  with  the  men : 
if  he  does  not  do  it  he  does  not  cooperate  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  term  is  used  here. 

Again,  the  ease  with  which  a  job  can  be  done  often  de- 
pends upon  the  condition  of  the  tools  or  other  equipment: 
it  is  harder  to  do  a  good  job  with  poor  tools  than  with  good 
ones.    The  job  can  be  done,  but  it  is  harder  on  the  workers. 

A  foreman  can  take  one  of  two  positions,  the  first,  "There 
is  the  job  and  there  are  the  tools,  go  to  it,  it  is  none  of  my 
business  whether  it  is  hard  or  easy,  so  long  as  the  conditions 
are  such  that  the  job  can  be  done,"  the  second,  "There  is  the 
job,  it's  got  to  be  done,  but  I'll  do  all  that  I  can  to  see  that 
it  can  be  done  as  easily  as  possible." 

As  in  other  cases  these  illustrations  are  only  sugges- 
tive possibilities. 

C.    SECUEING  COOPEEATION   FROM  THE  WOEKING  FOECE 

Preliminary. — The  last  discussion  was  on  the  question  of 
cooperating  with  the  operating  force  and  the  question  of 
securing  cooperation  from  the  force  is  now  taken  up  in  the 

same  way. 

The  foreman  is  the  leader  of  the  team,  he  is  responsible 
for  getting  the  job  done :  if  he  is  to  do  a  good  job  he  must  have 
the  team  behind  him,  that  is,  he  must  secure  their  cooperation. 

What  is  Meant  by  Cooperation  from  the   Operating 


430 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


HI 


Force. — The  kind  of  cooperation  that  a  foreman  must  secure 
from  the  members  of  his  operating  force  is  the  same  kind 
that  he,  in  turn,  gives  to  his  superiors.  He  must  get  the  men 
to  go  out  of  their  way  to  help  to  make  the  work  as  good  as 
possible.  A  man  who  cooperates  with  his  foreman  does  some- 
thing besides  carrying  on  the  purely  mechanical  operations 
of  his  job  and  this  additional  something  cannot  be  secured 
by  any  exercise  of  authority :  nobody  can  make  a  man  do  it, 
if  he  does  it  he  does  it  because  he  wants  to  do  it  and  not 
because  anybody  can  make  him  do  it. 

For  example,  a  man  might  have  the  job  of  stamping  out 
fancy  tin  cases  or  boxes.  If  the  colors  that  are  baked  on 
the  metal  are  coming  in  a  variety  of  shades  instead  of  run- 
ning true,  not  enough  to  be  noticeable  at  first  glance  but  quite 
plain  on  examination,  the  operator  is  not  to  blame,  it  is  no 
part  of  his  job  to  inspect:  his  job  is  to  run  the  press,  and  a 
condition  of  this  kind  might  go  on  until  an  inspector  came 
around  or  the  foreman  noticed  it,  with  corresponding  loss. 
If,  however,  the  operator  voluntarily  keeps  his  eyes  out  and 
spots  the  poor  material  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  come  along 
and  brings  it  to  the  attention  of  the  foreman,  that  operator 
is  cooperating  with  him  in  the  interests  of  the  job. 

Again,  in  an  iron  foundry,  a  moulder  might  see  that  an 
additional  pattern,  for  which  he  had  the  order  on  his  next 
job  could  be  put  into  a  flask  with  the  one  that  he  was  using 
at  the  time.  If  he  drew  the  attention  of  the  foreman  to  this, 
and  it  was  advisable  to  put  that  pattern  in  with  the  other 
job,  a  saving  of  time  and  labor  would  come  out  of  that 
moulder's  cooperation. 

Cost  Elements. — Of  course,  the  cost  elements  here  are 
plain:  they  are  all  due  to  a  failure  to  utilize  any  interest, 
knowledge,  skill  ^nd  intelligence  that  the  members  of  the 
working  force  may  possess.  The  condition  here  is  like  that  of 
a  man  having  money  in  the  bank  that  is  drawing  no  interest. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem 
here  is  to  get  all  the  gain  possible  out  of  the  knowledge,  skill, 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


481 


intelligence  and  experience  of  the  members  of  the  working 
force.  The  more  this  is  done,  the  more  costs  are  reduced: 
the  less  it  is  done,  if  there  is  anything  to  draw  on  (and  there 
always  is),  the  more  costs  are  increased. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — The  means  of  dealing  with 
this  problem  have  already  been  taken  up  in  diiferent  parts 
of  this  book.  In  general,  they  are  the  promotion  of  interest 
and  satisfaction  by  the  various  managerial  devices  already 
pointed  out.  In  proportion  as  men  are  interested  in  their 
work  and  are  satisfied  they  will  be  ready  and  anxious  to 
contribute  in  any  way  that  they  can  to  the  success  of  the 
work  of  the  department  and  of  the  plant.  Since  these 
points  have  already  been  covered  they  are  not  taken  up 
again  here. 

Being  Square. — ^If  any  superior  expects  to  get  real  co- 
operation from  the  members  of  his  team  he  must  be  square 
with  them.  Everybody  knows  what  that  means  and  it 
doesn't  need  to  be  taken  up  here.  One  important  point  in 
cooperation  between  people  is  that  each  party  must  be  abso- 
lutely sure  of  the  good  faith  of  the  other.  Any  sort  of  "gold 
bricking"  or  bluffing,  real  or  suspected,  kills  the  whole  co- 
operative relation. 

Cost  Elements. — These  need  not  be  taken  up:  they  are 
self-evident.     This  is  equally  true  of  the  managerial  problem. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — This  also  calls  for  no  dis- 
cussion. If  a  man  does  not  know  how  to  be  square,  sug- 
gestions are  of  no  value.  If  he  does,  he  won't  need 
any  suggestions. 

Plant  Pride — Departmental  Pride. — These  are  important 
elements  in  securing  cooperation  from  the  working  force. 
They  have  been  taken  up  elsewhere  and  so  are  not  taken  up 

again  here. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  problem  here  is  to  pro- 
mote plant  and  departmental  pride  in  order  to  secure  the 
most  effective  cooperation. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^These  points  have  already 
been  taken  up.    A  very  active  means  of  securing  cooperation 


I 


4» 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


^  to  foster  in  the  man  by  example  and  general  cooperating 
methods  a  particular  pnde  in  the  success  of  the  work  of  the 
department.    This  departmental  pride  in  its  effect  is  much 

^fTK*^  *^  P"**^  mentioned  as  plant  pride  previously, 
except  that  it  is  more  mtense  inasmuch  as  it  applies  to  a 
particular  part  of  a  plant  where  each  man  is  more  keenly 
mtemted.  By  departmental  pride  a  man  is  led  unconsciously 
to  believe  his  department  as  distinguished  from  any  other 
department  of  the  plant  is  the  best^ossible  departZenttr 
a  man  to  work  m  and  reflects  credit  on  every  man  in  it.  This 
particular  pride  is  one  of  the  strongest  weapons^  treman 
may  have  for  developing  cooperation 

Telling  the  Truth.-In  order  to  secure  cooperation,  it  is 
necessary  for  any  foreman  to  secure  the  confidence  of  his 
TZ  l^A  *^tf^t  that  they  believe  in  him  and  are  certain 
that  he  does  not  trifle  with  them.  One  means  of  securing  this 
confidence  is  by  consutently  telling  the  truth  about  any 
niatter  that  might  anse.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that 
the  foreman  must  take  his  men  into  his  complete  confidence 
to  the  extent  of  aU  details  of  his  work,  but  to  whatever  degree 

™    f*^  I    *    T  '°*°  ''^  confidence,  whatever  he  teUs  them 
must  be  the  truth. 

Giving  Everybody  a  Square  Deal.-When  each  man  in 
the  workmg  force  is  certain  that  no  matter  what  event  occurs 
his  foreman  IS  certain  to  treat  it  justly  to  the  extent  of  irivinff 
each  man  his  just  dues,  or,  in  other  words,  giving  evervbodv 
a  square  deal  he  has  confidence  in  the  foreman.  If  a  workman 
has  done  a  particularly  good  piece  of  cooperating  his  fore- 
man  should  give  hun  the  credit.    If  he  has  done  a  particularly 
good  piece  of  work  he  should  see  to  it  that  the  man  himself 
knows  that  he  appreciates  it.    If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  man 
departs  from  his  best  efforts,  in  like  manner  his  punishment, 
If  pumshment  there  be,  must  be  "square."     A  foreman  in 
dealmg  with  his  working  force  must  realize  that  they  are 
entirely  different  from  his  equipment  or  material  responsi- 
bilities, masmuch  as  they  are  human,  have  human  failing  and 
characteristics,  and  above  all  are  most  quick  to  see  any  de- 
parture from  a  square  deal.  "^ 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


Getting  the  Confidence  of  the  Working  Force^ — ^It  can- 
not fail  to  be  noted  that  practically  all  the  points  brought  up 
in  connection  with  securing  cooperation  from  the  members 
of  the  working  force  were  brought  out  in  the  consideration  of 
the  elements  of  leadership  and  the  whole  matter  could  have 
been  summed  up  in  the  statement  that  a  good  leader  secures 
the  best  possible  cooperation  from  his  team  and  a  poor  leader 
can't  get  any.  After  all  is  said,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
leader  is  the  man  who  is  tactful,  considerate,  knows  human 
nature  and  realizes  that  he  is  working  with  human  beings, 
not  merely  with  machines  and  some  "machine  attachments" 
in  the  form  of  "hands." 

All  that  could  be  done  in  this  chapter  has  been  to  suggest 
to  such  a  man  a  few  things  that  might  make  a  little  clearer 
some  of  his  problems  and  the  reason  why  some  things  work 
out  as  they  do. 

No  foreman  can  secure  the  real  cooperation  of  his  team 
through  any  sort  of  bluff.  Sympathy  must  be  real,  interest 
must  be  genuine,  not  assumed.  Many  people  who  had  to  deal 
with  team  management  have  tried  to  work  it  **by  a  formula" 
but  "canned"  tact,  sympathy,  consideration  and  leadership 
comes  about  as  near  to  being  the  real  thing  as  canned  corned 
beef  comes  to  the  fresh  article,  and  there  is  no  more  danger 
that  people  will  mistake  one  for  the  other  on  matters  of 
cooperation  than  they  do  in  bujdng  in  the  market. 

POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 
PART  VIII 

COOPERATION 

1.  In  a  certain  plant  the  general  foreman  and  the  shift 
foremen  got  together  and  determined  the  most  efficient  pro- 
cedure in  the  case  of  certain  possible  emergencies.  Was  this 
cooperation?    If  so,  with  whom? 

2.  A  has  his  opinion  of  certain  orders  that  have  been 
given  with  regard  to  fire  rules.  He  thinks  that  they  are  no 
good.    He  expresses  this  opinion  all  over  the  plant  wherever 

he  meets  anybody.     B  has  the  same  opinion  but  says  nothing, 
28 


4S4 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


He  does  however  put  the  case  as  he  sees  it  up  to 
his  superior  with  his  reasons.  Which  of  the  two  men 
is  giving  the  better  cooperation?  With  whom  are  they 
cooperating  or  not  cooperating? 

3.  A  foreman  borrows  a  good  man  from  another  fore- 
man in  a  case  where  the  first  foreman  has  no  work  for  the 
man  at  that  time.  The  man  turns  out  to  be  especially  good 
in  the  new  department.  When  work  comes  on  the  second 
foreman  wants  his  man  back.  The  first  foreman  does  not 
want  to  lose  him  and  so  tells  the  man  to  quit  and  then  he  will 
hire  him  again  in  his  department.  The  man  does  so 
and  the  second  foreman  secures  a  good  man  in  this 
way.  Is  this  a  case  of  cooperation?  If  so,  with  whom? 
Would  the  case  be  any  different  if  the  man  wanted  to  stay 
in  the  second  department  ? 

4.  A  general  ruling  is  made  that  masks  must  be  worn 
on  certain  jobs.  Foreman  A  issues  an  arbitrary  order  to 
his  men  by  posting  a  notice.  Foreman  B  informs  himself  as 
to  just  the  reasons  for  this  order  and  puts  these  reasons  up 
to  his  men.  Any  difference  in  the  degree  of  cooperation  in 
these  two  cases?  Why?  Is  the  cost  of  enforcing  the  order 
likely  to  be  the  same  in  the  two  cases?    Why? 

6.  A  garment  factory  was  employing  rather  ignorant 
women  workers.  One  of  these  women  bought  a  garment  at 
a  retail  store  in  town.  She  and  some  of  her  friends  figured 
up  the  piecework  price  on  the  garment  by  adding  up  what 
each  got  on  her  special  operation  and  as  a  result  they  became 
convinced  that  the  difference  between  that  figure  and  the 
retail  price  meant  that  the  company  was  making  so  much 
money  that  the  piecework  rate  could  be  raised.  They 
knew  nothing  of  overhead,  retailer's  profit,  etc.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  company  in  question  was  making  a  very  moderate 
profit  on  the  business.  The  fact  that  this  thing  was  being 
talked  up  came  to  the  notice  of  the  foreman.  Some  dismissed 
it  as  "mere  talk"  but  others  thought  that  it  might  make 
unnecessary    trouble,    took    the    trouble    to    acquaint    the 


COST  PROBLEMS  ON  COOPERATION 


4A5 


Management  with  the  state  of  affairs,  get  the  facts,  and 
see  that  these  facts  were  made  plain  to  the  women.  Was 
there  any  cooperation  here?    If  so,  with  whom? 

6.  As  a  matter  of  cooperation  would  a  supervisor  ever 
be  justified  in  giving  orders  or  directions  to  men  who  were 
under  the  authority  of  another  supervisor  who  was  his 
equal  or  his  superior?    If  so,  under  what  conditions? 

7.  It  is  necessary  to  reduce  the  operating  force  in  a 
plant.  The  policy  adopted  is  to  lay  off  all  unmarried  men 
and  so  far  as  possible  keep  men  with  families.  One  foreman 
takes  pains  to  explain  to  every  man  that  is  laid  off  why  he 
is  laid  off.  Another  foreman  thinks  that  that  is  unnecessary 
and  gives  no  explanation.  Any  difference  in  cooperation 
here  ?    If  so,  how  ?    With  whom  ? 

8.  In  what  ways  can  a  foreman  cooperate  with  an 
employment  department? 

9.  If  all  duties  were  clearly  defined  and  provided  for 
by  standard  practice,  would  there  be  any  chance  for 
cooperation? 

10.  A  man  who  is  responsibile  for  getting  out  mixtures 
is  verv  careful  to  see  that  there  are  no  mistakes  made.  In 
doing  this  is  he  cooperating  with  the  foreman  in  charge  of 
the  next  department  or  is  he  only  discharging  his  duty  on 

his  job? 

11.  A  truck  load  of  material  that  could  be  damaged  by 
water  was  placed  as  directed  by  the  planning  department. 
While  it  was  standing  there  an  automatic  sprinkler  let  go 
and  nobody  moved  the  truck  on  the  ground  that  nobody  had 
any  authority  to  move  it.  Was  this  poor  cooperation  with 
the  planning  department?  If  not,  was  it  a  case  of  failure 
to  cooperate  with  anybody?  Or  was  it  a  plain  failure  to 
discharge  a  responsibility? 

12.  What  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  a  foreman  can 
cooperate  with  the  employment  department?  With  the 
medical  service? 

13.  A  foreman  gets  a  request   from  his   superior   for 


4S6 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


suggestions  on  a  certain  point.    In  what  way  can  he  cooper- 
ate most  fully? 

14.  You  see  something  wrong  going  on  in  another  man's 
department.  In  what  way  can  you  cooperate  the  best,  by 
taking  up  the  matter  with  the  superintendent  or  directly  with 
the  foreman  concerned?    Why? 

15.  Why  is  it  more  difficult  to  cooperate  with  a  foreman 
of  equal  grade  than  to  cooperate  with  your  superior?    Is  it? 

16.  Give  a  case  where  you  have  secured  cooperation  from 
the  members  of  your  working  force. 

17.  Give  a  case  where  you  have  cooperated  with 
your  men. 

18.  In  your  opinion  is  it  possible  for  a  foreman  to 
cooperate  with  his  men  and  still  keep  them  up  to  full  pro- 
duction and  quality  ?    Why  ? 

19.  Which  would  give  better  results  a  "  loose  "  organiza- 
tion with  good  cooperative  spirit  all  along  the  line  or  a 
"  tight  "  organization  with  little  or  no  cooperation?    Why? 

20.  How  can  a  supervisor  cooperate  with  Americaniza- 
tion classes? 

21.  How  can  he  cooperate  with  a  vocational  school? 

22.  How  can  he  cooperate  with  an  evening  trade  exten- 
sion school? 

23.  In  your  opinion  would  a  knowledge  of  the  plant  as 
a  whole,  its  departments,  what  they  turn  out,  where  the 
product  goes,  the  order  in  which  it  goes  through  the  plant, 
etc.,  affect  the  cooperative  attitude  of  the  members  of  the 
working  force?     Why? 

24.  A  group  of  workmen  stay  overtime  to  finish  a  job 
and  do  not  ask  for  overtime  pay.  Are  they  cooperating  with 
somebody?   If  so,  with  their  foreman,  the  G.  M.  or  who? 

25.  A  report  on  production  is  due  at  the  office  of  the 
superior  on  Mondays  at  10  o'clock.  One  man  gets  it  in  on 
time  and  sees  that  it  is  correct.  Another  man  gets  it  in  late 
and  it  is  often  incorrect  owing  to  carelessness  on  the  part 
of  his  clerk.  Is  this  a  case  of  cooperation?  If  so, 
with  whom? 


PART  IX 


AN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  APPLICATION  OF  THE 

METHODS  OF  ANALYSIS  TO  A  MANAGERIAL 

PROBLEM.     CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


iS8 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  ANALYSIS  LAY-OUT  FOR  A  MANAGERIAL  PROB- 
LEM ON  CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


IMITATION 
CARELESS- 
NESS. 


NEVER    BEEN 
INSTRUCTED. 


ORDERS  NOT 
FULLY  UN- 
DERSTOOD. 


ACCIDENTS 


TEMPORARY 
CARELESS- 
NESS. 


DIFFICULTY 
CAN  PROBA- 
B  L  Y  BE 
REMEDIED 


PERMANENT 
CARELESS- 
NESS. 


DIFFICULTY 
CAN  POSSI- 
B  L  Y  BE 
REMEDIED. 


fNO  DIRECT 
WAY  TO  RE- 
MOVE CAUSE. 


Not  been  prop- 
erly instructed. 

Never  been  in- 
structed. 

Orders  not  com- 
plete. 

Poor  command  of 
English. 

Failure  to  inspect 
for  danger 
points. 

Failure  to  note 
bad  condi- 
tions. 

Failure  to  cover 
high  supervis- 
ory  points 
properly. 

Fatigue. 

Taking  a  chance. 

Temporary  ill- 
ness. 

Special  operating 
diflSculties. 

Change  in  the 
conditions  not 
covered  by  the 
instructions. 

Failure  to  under- 
stand the  need 
of  special  ac- 
curacy or  care 
at  c  e  rtain 
o  pe  rating 
points. 

Sense  of  accuracy 
lacking. 

Job  has  become 
routine. 

Man  dislikes  the 
job. 

Sense  of  respon- 
sibility lack- 
ing. 

Cannot    do    the 

job. 
Don't    want    to 

work. 


WORKER  NOT 
TO  BLAME. 
FAULT  OF 
THE  FORE- 
MAN. 

SAVE  THE  MAN. 


FIND  THE 
DIFFICULTY. 
AIM  TO  SAVE 

THE  MAN. 


FIND  THE 
DIFFICULTY. 
TRY  TO  SAVE 
THE  MAN 
FIRST.  IP 
DIFFICULTY 
CANNOT  BE 
REMEDIED. 
LET  HIM  GO. 

GET  HIM  OFF 
THE  JOB. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

AN   ILLUSTRATION   OF  THE  APPLICATION   OF 
THE  METHOD  OF  ANALYSIS  TO  A  HUMAN 
FACTOR  MANAGERIAL  PROBLEM.  CARE- 
LESSNESS ON  THE  JOB 

Preliminary. — Some  of  the  most  common  and  most  diffi- 
cult problems  with  which  a  foreman  has  to  deal  both  as  a 
supervisor  and  as  a  manager  come  out  of  what  may  be  called 
"carelessness  on  the  job."  Somebody  often  regarded  as  en- 
tirely reliable,  because  he  never  did  anything  of  the  kind 
before,  makes  some  sort  of  a  "break"  or  a  "bonehead  play," 
causing  damage  or  loss,  sometimes  of  a  most  serious  char- 
acter. Somebody  fails  to  follow  directions  carefully,  or  does 
not  pay  attention  to  cautions,  or  does  the  wrong  thing  at  an 
important  operating  point,  and  often,  so  far  as  the  foreman 
can  see,  there  is  no  reason  on  earth  why  he  should  have  done 
it.  For  example,  in  a  chemical  plant,  one  operating  point  on 
a  certain  process  might  be  to  read  and  record  temperatures 
at  exact  hourly  intervals,  and  when  the  product  does  not 
come  out  right  it  is  found  that  the  operator  had  taken  his 
readings  at  intervals  of  anywhere  from  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  to  an  hour  and  a  quarter  and  "didn't  suppose  it  made 
any  difference,"  or  "didn't  know  why  he  didn't  do  it  right." 
Again  a  man  transporting  cans  full  of  paint  from  one  point 
in  the  department  to  another  packs  his  load  so  "carelessly" 
that  he  has  a  spill  with  corresponding  damage  and  loss  of 
stock,  or,  in  operating  a  machine  a  man  gets  his  fingers 
caught  in  the  gears  and  so  injures  himself.  In  referring  to 
anything  of  this  kind,  the  general  explanation  would  be  that 
the  man  was  "careless,"  which,  if  it  got  us  anywhere  in  deal- 
ing with  the  problem  would  be  a  very  good  explanation,  but 
unfortunately  it  does  not,  and  when  we  lay  a  smash  or  an 
accident  to  "carelessness  on  the  job"  and  let  it  go  at  that, 

4S9 


440 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


441 


we  have  not  got  anywhere  in  dealing  with  it  effectively  as  a 
managerial  problem. 

Reference  has  been  repeatedly  made  in  different  chapters 
to  the  value  of  applying  the  methods  of  analysis  to  problems 
of  management  rather  than  to  stick  to  what  has  been  called 
the  "guess"  method.  As  an  illustration  of  how  this  method 
can  be  applied  to  dealing  with  a  managerial  problem  that  is 
often  not  only  a  very  difficult  one  to  handle,  but  that  is  often 
handled  very  badly,  this  chapter  takes  up  the  question  of 
carelessness  on  the  job  as  a  managerial  problem. 

Carelessness  on  the  Job  as  a  Cost  Element.— The  direct 
results  of  carelessness  are  so  well  known  that  they  need  no 
consideration ;  they  are,  of  course,  anything  in  the  wav  of 
loss  of  material,  damage  to  equipment  and  personal  injury. 
I*  "1*^  ^  ^^^^'  however,  to  mention  that  many  foremen 
think  of  carelessness  almost  entirely  in  terms  of  accidents. 
It  is  with  them  a  "safety"  proposition.  While  it  is  true  that 
certain  kinds  of  carelessness  are  the  cause  of  accidents, 
causing  personal  injury,  the  carelessness  discussed  in  this 
chapter  is  carelessness  on  the  job,  safety  being  discussed 
under  the  Physical  Condition  of  the  Working  Force  in 
Chapter  XVI.  ^ 

Carelessness  on  the  job  as  discussed  here  means  careless- 
ness that  results  in  increasing  the  cost  of  the  job,  and  it  is 
taken  up  at  some  length,  not  because  of  the  evident  direct 
cost  elements,  but  because  according  to  the  way  it  is  handled 
as  a  managerial  problem  it  can  very  seriously  affect  concealed 
costs  that  are  often  not  connected  with  it  in  the  minds  of 
many  people,  especially  in  connection  with  discharge  cost, 
reduced  production  and  turnover. 

The  Need  of  Anticipating  Carelessness.— A  foreman  as 
a  manager  can  handle  carelessness  in  two  ways.  First,  he  can 
wait  until  something  happens  through  carelessness  and  then 
find  some  way  to  prevent  the  same  thing  happening  again ; 
and  often  his  method  of  doing  this  is  simply  to  fire  the  man, 
which,  as  pointed  out  later,  is  not  dealing  with  the  problem  at 
all  in  a  managerial  way.    Second,  he  can  by  study  and  plan- 


ning anticipate  the  points  at  which  carelessness  occurred, 
and  the  conditions  under  which  it  may  occur,  and  by  care- 
fully considering  what  special  precautions  should  be  taken, 
before  the  carelessness  happens,  may  head  it  off  in  any  par- 
ticular form  in  which  it  happens  to  come  up.  He  can  "take 
out  insurance  in  advance"  by  preventing  the  thing  from  hap- 
pening, which  costs  little  or  nothing,  or  deal  with  the  results 
of  carelessness  after  they  have  happened,  which  often  means 
cost  to  an  extent  that  no  one  can  estimate  in  advance,  and 
which  may  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  apparent  import- 
ance of  the  operating  point  at  which  it  occurred. 

The  General  Managerial  Problem. — Carelessness  is  a 
human  factor  element  and  so  can  never  be  entirely  cut  out  so 
long  as  men  do  work,  but  it  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  and 
both  in  its  direct  and  indirect  cost  elements  reduced  by  care- 
ful and  intelligent  management,  so  that  the  foreman's  general 
managerial  job  is:  (1)  to  reduce  carelessness  to  a  minimum, 
and  (2)  when  it  does  occur,  deal  with  it  so  as  to  cause  the 
least  loss  to  the  department  and  to  the  plant.  In  order  to  do 
this  he  must  make  a  careful  study  of  the  kinds  of  careless- 
ness, their  causes,  and  of  the  cost  elements  that  will  come 
into  any  action  that  he  may  take,  and  then  determine  how 
these  different  kinds  can  be  most  effectively  handled. 

If  he  goes  at  the  job  of  handling  carelessness  in  this  way, 
he  will  find  that,  in  general,  the  following  facts  are  true : 

1.  What  is  often  called  "carelessness"  is  not  really  care- 
lessness at  all  but  the  difficulty  is  due. to  quite  another  cause. 

2.  In  some  cases  the  trouble  is  not  due  to  any  negligence 
on  the  part  of  the  worker  but  is  really  the  fault  of  somebody 
else,  often  the  foreman  himself. 

3.  Where  it  is  true  carelessness,  it  may  be  one  of  two 
kinds,  each  requiring  different  managerial  handling  on  ac- 
count of  the  different  cost  elements  involved. 

What  is  carelessness?  Carelessness  as  distinguished  from 
a  number  of  other  things  that  on  first  sight  look  like  care- 
lessness may  be  defined  as  doing  the  wrong  thing  (or  not 
doing  the  right  thing)  when  there  is  no  intention  of  doing 


f 


448 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


the  wrong  thing  and  there  are  no  conditions  that  prevent 
doing  the  right  thing.  For  example,  when  a  shortstop  is 
"asleep"  and  so  lets  a  grounder  get  by  him  and  a  batter  gets 
his  base,  nobody  assumes  that  he  intended  to  let  the  ball  go 
by,  and  if  the  ball  went  where  he  could  have  reasonably 
stopped  it,  it  is  assumed  that  he  ought  to  have  stopped  it, 
and  that  his  failure  to  stop  it  was  due  to  carelessness.  If' 
on  the  other  hand,  he  was  "awake"  and  was  watching  a  man 
trying  to  steal  second  base,  he  may  have  made  a  "bonehead 
play."  His  judgment  may  have  been  wrong,  but  he  was  not 
careless  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  here. 

Need  for  Distinguishing  Between  Real  and  Imitation 
Carelessness.— In  dealing  effectively  with  carelessness  as  a 
manager,  a  foreman  must  therefore  follow  a  certain  pro- 
cedure consisting  of  a  series  of  steps  as  follows  : 

(1)  Satisfying  himself  that  what  at  first  sight  looks  like 
carelessness  is  really  carelessness. 

(2)  If  it  is  true  carelessness,  determining  the  kind  of 
carelessness. 

(3)  Dealing  with  each  kind  of  carelessness  in  the  best 
way  from  the  standpoint  of  costs. 

The  determination  of  (1)  and  (2)  often  calls  for  care- 
ful study  and  analysis  of  the  case  and  as  in  a  number  of 
other  cases,  a  foreman  can  go  at  the  matter  by  offhand  guess 
with  the  corresponding  chance  of  doing  an  injustice  to  some- 
body, losing  a  good  man,  cutting  down  interest  and  pro- 
moting dissatisfaction,  or  he  can,  so  far  as  any  human  being 
can,  by  studying  out  each  case,  come  as  near  as  possible  to 
getting  the  true  facts  and  on  those  facts  basing  his  action 
with  the  corresponding  chance  of  reducing  injustice,  giving 
a  fair  deal,  which  every  foreman  wants  to  do,  promoting 
satisfaction  and  in  many  other  ways  cut  out  costs. 

The  simple  fact  that  something  wrong  is  done  does  not 
of  necessity  mean  that  it  is  a  case  of  carelessness,  and  it  is 
necessary  to  distinguish  between  true  carelessness  and  imi- 
tation carelessness  before  any  proper  action  can  be  taken  in 
dealing  with  it  managerially. 


>« 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


448 


Some  forms  of  "imitation"  or  apparent  carelessness  are 
discussed  below.  There  are,  of  course,  others,  and  a  fore- 
man in  studying  cases  of  apparent  carelessness  must  take  all 
possible  means  to  find  out  that  it  is  not  apparent  careless- 
ness, but  the  "genuine  article"  before  he  deals  with  it  on  a 
straight  "carelessness"  basis. 

Of  course,  so  far  as  results  go,  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  carelessness  is  or  is  not  the  genuine  article.  The 
damage  is  done  or  the  accident  takes  place  just  the  same,  but 
it  is  important  to  distinguish  between  true  carelessness  and 
apparent  carelessness  on  account  of  the  very  different  ways 
in  which  it  must  be  handled  managerially  if  the  cost  elements 
are  to  be  cut  down  or  cut  out. 

B.    APPAEENT  CARELESSNESS 

Apparent  Carelessness. — ^Among  the  more  common  causes 
of  apparent  carelessness  are: 

(1)  Ignorance. 

(2)  Misunderstanding  of  orders  or  directions. 

(3)  Accidents,  pure  and  simple. 

In  the  first  two  cases  the  man  honestly  thought  that  he 
was  doing  what  he  was  expected  to  do ;  in  the  third  case  no- 
body coidd  have  anticipated  change  in  conditions  that  made 

the  job  go  wrong. 

Ignorance  and  Apparent  Carelessness. — ^Apparent  care- 
lessness on  the  job  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that  the  worker 
has  never  been  properly  directed  or  thoroughly  instructed 
or  cautioned  with  regard  to  the  particular  points  on  which 
the  "carelessness"  occurs.  He  is  really  ignorant  as  to  the 
proper  procedure,  or  the  fact  that  he  should  be  especially 
careful  or  exact  at  some  particular  point  on  the  job  hecatise 
nobody  has  ever  told  Mm  about  it.  The  foreman  may  think 
that  he  has  put  over  the  necessary  information  or  has  given 
the  necessary  instruction,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has 
not  done  it.  This  is  usually  due,  as  discussed  fully  in  the 
chapters  on  instruction,  to  the  fact  that  the  foreman  is 
trying  to  carry  two  jobs  at  once,  supervision  and  instruction, 


444 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


vnHJF 


and  while,  in  the  pressure  of  getting  the  work  out  he  fully 
intended  to  do  a  good  teaching  job  he  actually  failed  to  put 
it  over  properly.  This  slip  up  in  teaching  under  production 
conditions  is  much  more  common  than  many  foremen  realize 
and  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  some  knowledge  of  teaching  is 
an  asset  to  any  foreman. 

As  examples  of  apparent  carelessness  on  the  job  the  two 
cases  given  below  may  be  of  service. 

In  the  case  of  a  train  stopping  between  stations  the  job 
of  a  trainman  is  to  go  back  with  a  flag  to  protect  from  a 
rear  end  collision  from  a  following  train. 

If  the  job  is  to  be  done  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  a 
rear  end  collision,  the  man  must  go  back  a  certain  distance. 
A  smash-up  occurs,  and  an  investigation  shows  that  he  was 
green  on  the  job  and  that  all  he  was  ever  told  was  "to  go 
back  a  ways,"  and  that  he  never  knew  that  it  requires  a  cer- 
tain distance  to  stop  a  train. 

The  same  point  is  brought  out  in  the  story  of  the  man 
who  for  forty  years  had  tested  car  wheels  with  a  hammer  and, 
being  retired  for  long  and  faithful  service,  was  asked  at  a 
little  ceremony  to  describe  the  job  that  he  had  held  down  so 
long  and  so  well.  "When  the  train  comes  in  I  takes  my  ham- 
mer and  hits  all  the  wheels  and  I've  never  missed  one."  "Fine, 
and  what  do  you  hit  them  for?  "  "  Hanged  if  I  know." 

A  very  good  example  of  apparent  carelessness  that  was 
really  not  carelessness,  but  was  due  to  a  failure  to  properly 
instruct,  is  the  foUowing: 

In  a  certain  chemical  plant  acids  were  stored  in  earthen- 
ware tanks  which,  of  course,  had  earthenware  spigots  for 
drawing  off.  A  workmen,  whose  job  it  was  to  draw  off  from 
various  tanks,  came  to  one  where  the  spigot  spindle  stuck; 
he  undertook  to  loosen  it  by  tapping  with  a  hammer,  broke 
the  spigot  and  naturally  caused  a  considerable  loss.  On  the 
face  of  it  this  appeared  a  plain  case  of  **bonehead"  careless- 
ness. A  study  of  the  case,  however,  brought  out  the  fol- 
lowing facts: 

(a)  The  man  has  been  on  the  job  only  a  few  days  on 


acid  tanks,  but  had  worked  for  a  long  time  drawing  off  liquid 
from  various  steel  or  wooden  tanks  having  metallic  spigots. 

(b)  The  earthenware  tank  and  the  spigot  were  so  cov- 
ered with  dirt  that  nobody  by  looking  at  them  could  tell  what 

they  were  made  of. 

(c)  Nobody  had  ever  told  the  man  that  these  particular 
tanks  and  spigots  were  of  earthenware. 

(d)  The  man  walked  a  hundred  feet  across  the  shed  to 

find  a  hammer. 

After  these  facts  had  been  brought  out  it  was  agreed  that 
this  was  not  a  case  of  carelessness  at  all  on  the  part  of  the 
man,  that  he  had  not,  rmth  the  information  at  his  disposal, 
made  a  "bonehead  play"  but  that  he  had  shown  intelligence 
and  zeal  in  hunting  up  a  hammer,  and  that  the  real  cause 
of  the  smash  and  resulting  damage  was  a  failure  to  fully 
instruct  the  man.  That  is,  it  was  the  foreman's  fault,  he  was 
the  careless  man,  not  the  workman.  The  foreman  was  the 
fellow  who  had  fallen  down  on  his  job,  the  man  had  not. 

As  a  contrast  with  this  another  case  may  be  quoted:  A 
man  had  for  a  long  time  had  the  job  of  carting  a  liquid  in 
cans  from  one  department  to  another  in  a  two-wheeled  hand- 
cart, and  had  to  deliver  half  of  his  load  at  one  point  and  the 
rest  at  another.  His  instructions  were,  after  delivering  his 
first  half,  to  rearrange  his  load  so  as  to  keep  the  cart  bal- 
anced properly.  He  delivered  his  first  half  from  the  front  of 
the  cart  and,  instead  of  rearranging,  got  a  "friend"  to  ride 
on  the  front  end  to  keep  the  balance.  Friend  saw  the  foreman 
coming,  made  a  flying  jump  to  get  back  to  his  own  station, 
cart  tipped  load  out,  doing  considerable  damage. 

In  this  case  it  is  evident  that  the  carelessness  was  the 
faalt  of  the  man.  He  knew  his  job  and  "took  a  chance"  be- 
cause he  was  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  or  too  lazy  to  attend 
to  his  job  properly. 

The  two  illustrations  given  will  illustrate  the  fact  that, 
in  handling  cases  of  carelessness  the  first  question  to  be  de- 
cided is  to  determine  the  real  cause,  as,  until  that  cause  is 
known,  carelessness  can  be  neither  anticipated  correctly  nor 


446 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


447 


dealt  with  effectively,  when  in  spite  of  all  attempts  to  antici- 
pate and  prevent  it  in  advance  it  does  occur. 

Whose  Fault?— Evidently  if  a  man  fails  to  do  the  correct 
thing  because  he  was  put  on  the  job  when  he  did  not  know  the 
job,  who  is  to  blame,  the  man  on  the  job  or  the  man  who  put 
him  on  the  job  and  neglected  to  find  out  whether  he  knew 
the  job  or  not? 

There  is  only  one  answer  to  this  question.  Apparent 
carelessness  due  to  ignorance  is  the  foreman's  fault  and  not 
the  worker's  fault.  It  is  the  foreman  who  takes  the  chance 
when  he  puts  him  on  the  job  without  knowing  that  he  knows 
that  job.  Hence:  if  this  is  true  then  the  determination  as  to 
whether  a  case  of  "carelessness"  is  really  carelessness  or 
is,  in  fact,  apparent  carelessness  due  to  ignorance  is  of  the 
highest  importance  in  dealing  with  the  problem  since  it  fixes 
the  responsibility  either  on  the  man  or  on  the  foreman,  as  the 
case  may  be,  at  the  beginning. 

Apparent  Carelessness  Due  to  Misunderstanding  of 
Orders  or  Directions. — This  is  a  much  more  common  cause 
of  apparent  carelessness  than  is  often  supposed.  On  giving 
directions  or  orders  there  is  often  a  "you  know  it,  and  I  know 
it  and  so  there  is  no  need  of  talking  about  it"  assumption  on 
the  part  of  the  foreman  and  the  workman  that  often  leaves 
some  points  to  guess.  The  common  omissions  in  giving  orders 
and  directions  and  their  effects  on  cost  are  discussed  else- 
where, and  so  are  not  brought  out  in  detail  here,  but  again 
the  fact  remains  that  apparent  carelessness  due  to  misunder- 
standing of  directions  or  orders  is,  in  general,  up  to  the  fore- 
man because  a  part  of  the  job  of  a  supervisor  is  to  know 
that  any  orders  that  he  issues  or  directions  that  he  gives  are 
fully  understood. 

Failure  to  Fully  Understand  Orders  or  Directions. — This 

is  a  much  more  common  cause  of  apparent  carelessness  than 
is  generally  supposed.  In  the  hurry  of  the  work  directions 
are  not  fully  given,  or,  if  given,  the  foreman  does  not  take 
the  time  to  make  sure  that  they  are  fully  understood,  or  that 
the  worker  fully  understands  just  how  the  operation  is  to  be 


carried  out.  For  example,  a  man  might  be  told  to  weigh 
each  wheelbarrow  of  material,  but  might  not  understand 
he  was  to  do  the  weighing  himself  or  that  a  weigher  was  to 
do  it  for  him. 

Another  common  cause  of  apparent  carelessness  is  lack 
of  command  of  English.  This  cause  of  carelessness  is  par- 
ticularly likely  to  occur  in  cases  where  foreign  speaking  help 
are  cautioned  as  to  danger  points.  The  man  does  not  fully 
understand,  but  is  afraid  to  say  so.  For  example,  in  a  wire 
mill  a  man  may  be  told  that  he  is  liable  to  have  his  clothing 
caught  on  the  blocks  in  the  frame  or  on  the  wire  going  to  the 
dies  and  if  he  is  caught  to  press  on  the  stop  with  his  foot. 
In  many  cases  the  man,  not  knowing  English  very  well,  when 
he  is  asked,  "Do  you  understand?"  will  say  "Yes"  when  he 
has  not  really  taken  it  in,  and  as  a  result  he  is  "careless," 
gets  caught  and  is  injured  more  or  less  seriously.  Or  he  may 
be  warned  by  a  sign  printed  in  English  about  using  a  freight 
elevator,  particularly  about  danger  while  it  is  moving,  but 
through  not  being  able  to  read  and  not  knowing  that  a  slow- 
moving  elevator  is  just  as  dangerous,  if  not  more  so,  than  a 
fast  one,  he  tried  to  get  on  or  off  when  it  is  moving  and 
is  caught. 

Whose  fault? 

Apparent    Carelessness    Due    to    Accident. — After    all 

questions  of  carelessness,  real  or  apparent,  have  been  cut  out, 
there  still  remain  some  cases  that  must  be  considered  as  acci- 
dental, that  is,  the  damage  or  loss  is  due  to  causes  that  could 
not  have  been  foreseen  or  guarded  against.  Inspected  boilers 
will  let  go,  tested  chains  will  break  away,  even  where  all  pos- 
sible human  care  and  foresight  has  been  used. 

Of  course,  an  accident  is,  in  the  last  analysis,  somebody's 
fault,  but,  in  practice,  the  cause  may  have  been  out  of  con- 
trol of  whoever  was  on  the  job  when  it  happened,  and  at  all 
events,  true  accidents  should  be  distinguished  from  the  dam- 
age, injury  or  loss  due  to  carelessness  as  the  term  is  used  here. 

The  Managerial  Problem  on  Imitation  Carelessness. — 
The  general  managerial  problem  on  imitation  carelessness  is 


8 


M8 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


M 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


440 


first  to  be  sure  that  it  is  imitation  carelessness  and  ascertain 
and  remove  the  cause. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— Since,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  the  causes  of  imitation  carelessness  can  be  ascertained, 
the  method  of  dealing  with  the  problem  is  to  find  out  the  cause 
and  remove  it,  as  indicated  above,  by  not  "blowing  up"  or  fir- 
ing a  man  offhand,  but  by  making  a  study  of  the  case,  that 
is,  by  again  applying  the  analysis  method  instead  of  the 
"guess"  method.     For  example,  if  the  apparent  carelessness 
was  due  to  lack  of  instructions  on  some  point,  as  in  the  case 
of   the   man    and   the   acid    tanks,   already   described,   the 
only  thing  to  do  is  to  "cover"  that  point  and  try  to  anticipate 
such  cases  thereafter.    The  majority  of  cases  discussed  here 
under  this  heading  are  not  the  fault  of  the  worker  but  of 
somebody  else  (often  the  foreman)  who  honestly  thought  that 
the  matter  had  been  properly  taken  care  of.    The  only  thing 
in  many  cases  is  to  charge  it  up  to  experience,  make  up  one's 
mind  not  to  let  that  particular  thing  happen  again  and  note 
one  more  retailed  responsibility  point  to  be  more  carefully 
looked  after  in  the  future.    The  main  thing  is  to  so  handle 
the  case  that  satisfaction  and  interest  are  not  reduced,  that 
injustice  is  not  done  in  blaming  the  man  before  one  knows 
that  the  trouble  is  his  fault,  in  keeping  cool  until  the  case  has 
been  studied  out  and  in  waiting  till  you  know  what  you  are 
dealing  with  before  taking  any  disciplinary  action,  for  you 
may  find  that  you  are  the  one  to  be  called  down. 

Real  Carelessness.— If  the  previous  discussion  and  the 
illustrations  used  have  served  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  intended,  the  point  has  been  brought  out  that  many 
cases  of  apparent  carelessness  are  not  carelessness  at  all  but 
are  due  to  other  causes  in  many  cases  due  to  negligence  on 
the  foreman's  part,  not  the  worker,  or  due  to  "unavoidable" 
accidents.  The  following  paragraphs  discuss  true  careless- 
ness as  distinguished  from  apparent  carelessness  as  the  term 
is  used  here. 

Real  Carelessness  and  its  Causes.— The  general  tendency 
on  the  part  of  some  foremen  is  to  lay  carelessness  on  the  job 


to  one  of  three  causes:  plain  "boneheadedness"  or  "cussed- 
ness"  or  "laziness,"  which  lets  the  foreman  out  easily,  but 
does  not  help  the  situation  from  the  managerial  standpoint. 
Most  foremen,  however,  try  earnestly  by  every  means  in  their 
power  to  handle  carelessness  effectively,  but  often  find  it  a 
very  difficult  problem  to  deal  with,  largely  because  so  many 
of  the  causes  of  carelessness  are  so  concealed  that  in  any 
given  case  what  at  first  sight  would  seem  to  be  the  cause  is 
not  the  real  cause  at  all. 

True  Carelessness  Without  Intention. — Carelessness 
has  a  cause :  it  does  not  "just  happen,"  though  sometimes  it 
seems  so.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  carelessness  as  such  is  not 
due  to  intention  and  is  not  wilful.  Nobody  means  to  cause  loss 
or  damage  either  to  the  plant  or  to  themselves  under  circum- 
stances where  the  results  can  be  properly  defined  as  due  to 
lack  of  care.  In  dealing  with  carelessness  the  first  step  is 
therefore  to  determine  that  it  is  carelessness,  that  intention 
was  lacking.  If  intention  existed,  it  is  not  a  case  of  care- 
lessness but  of  something  else. 

In  the  following  paragraphs  it  is  assumed  that  there  was 
no  intention  of  causing  a  damage  or  loss,  but  that,  whatever 
the  cause,  the  trouble  was  due  to  carelessness  as  defined  here. 

Kinds  of  Carelessness. — ^In  dealing  with  carelessness  as  a 
manager,  the  foreman  must  first  determine  certain  facts  be- 
fore he  can  act  intelligently.  Among  the  more  important  of 
these  facts  are : 

( 1 )  The  kind  of  carelessness  as  between : 

(a)  Temporary  carelessness. 

(b)  Permanent  carelessness. 

And  it  is  important  to  make  this  distinction  at  the  beginning, 
because  the  causes  of  the  two  kijids  of  carelessness  are  differ- 
ent and  the  managerial  methods  of  dealing  with  them  must,  as 
taken  up  later,  be  based  on  very  different  principles. 

Temporary  and  Permanent  Carelessness. — As  just 
stated,  carelessness  may  be  either  temporary  or  permanent, 
and  in  many  ways  it  is  important  in  the  beginning  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two.     Temporary  or  accidental  care- 

20 


Jt 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

lessness  happens  once  or  twice,  usually  in  the  case  of  green 
men  or  men  new  on  the  job,  or,  strangely  enough,  in  the  case 
of  men  who  have  been  on  the  job  for  a  long  time.  Permanent 
or  persistent  carelessness  continues  after  every  reasonable 
attempt  has  been  made  in  the  way  of  special  caution  and  in- 
struction. The  case  of  the  man  with  the  tip  cart  quoted  a 
few  pages  back  is  a  good  illustration  of  temporary  careless- 
ness. For  another  example,  if  a  man  who  has  operated  an 
electrically  driven  machine  for  some  time  one  day  closes  the 
switch  on  a  direct-current  motor  circuit  with  the  starting 
resistance  out,  and  blows  out  the  fuses,  or  injures  the  appa- 
ratus, this  is  temporary  carelessness.  But  if  in  the  same  shop 
there  was  a  man  who  "regularly"  managed  to  do  some  damage 
to  the  machine  on  which  he  worked,  then  his  case  is  entirely 
different  from  the  first  one.  He  is  permanently  careless.  In 
the  one  instance  the  lack  of  care  was  temporary;  in  flie 
other,  persistent. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem— General  Method.— A  very 
serious  managerial  problem  for  the  foreman  is  the  handling 
of  either  temporary  or  permanent  carelessness,  owing  to  the 
danger  that  it  may  become  a  high  cost  factor.  A  slight  de- 
gree of  carelessness  in  a  powder  plant,  for  example,  may 
result  in  wiping  out  the  whole  plant,  and  in  a  high-grade 
machine  shop  may  cause  the  ruin  of  valuable  machines  or 
of  valuable  stock,  or,  in  either  case,  may  cause  loss  of  time, 
money,  or  life. 

The  General  Managerial  Problem. — ^The  general  man- 
agerial problem  as  between  temporary  and  permanent  care- 
lessness, of  course,  in  both  cases  is  to  reduce  it  to  a  minimum. 
In  dealing  with  the  problem  of  temporary  and  persistent 
carelessness  there  are  certain  general  principles  which,  since 

they  apply  in  all  the  special  cases  discussed  later,  are  pre- 
sented here  for  consideration. 

Dealing  with  Carelessness.— The  first  important  point 
to  determine  is  whether  the  carelessness  is  temporary  or  per- 
sistent. Where  such  a  case  is  discovered,  it  should  be  first 
assumed  that  the  carelessness  is  temporary,  because  if  it  is 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


451 


it  can  be  remedied  and  the  man  saved  without  much  difficulty, 
which  is  an  important  point  in  connection  with  cost  of  turn- 
over as  discussed  in  the  notes  on  that  cost  element.  If,  after 
trial,  it  becomes  evident  that  it  is  a  case  of  persistent  care- 
lessness, probable  causes  must  be  considered,  and  those  that 
would  not  call  for  discharging  the  man  tried  out  first  before 
deciding  to  get  rid  of  him  altogether. 

(1)  Temporary  carelessness.  In  general  the  problem 
here  is  to  remove  the  cause  and  save  the  man,  since,  if  this 
can  be  done,  the  "quitting"  cost  is  saved  and  the  losses  due  to 
this  form  of  carelessness  are  also  removed. 

(2)  Persistent  carelessness.  In  this  case  the  general 
principle  is  that  the  man  must  he  got  off  of  that  job,  since 
it  has  been  demonstrated  that  so  long  as  he  is  on  it  loss  and 
damage  will  continue. 

""This  means  that  so  far  as  the  job  is  concerned,  intelli- 
gent managerial  aims  are,  in  cases  of  temporary  careless- 
ness, save  the  man  for  the  job  and  avoid  the  cost  of  training 
a  new  man  on  that  job.  In  cases  of  persistent  carelessness 
get  the  man  off  the  job,  but  save  him  to  the  plant  if  this  can 
be  done  to  advantage.  This  depends  on  the  special  conditions 
as  taken  up  later  in  this  chapter. 

Permanent  Carelessness. — ^Where  carelessness  persists  it 
is  evidently  not  due  to  any  of  the  causes  that  go  with  "imi- 
tation" or  temporary  carelessness.  Among  the  causes  of 
persistent  carelessness  may  be : 

(1)  The  man  lacks  what  is  sometimes  called  the  "sense" 
of  accuracy  or  some  other  special  qualifications  for  that 

special  job. 

(2)  Job  has  become  routine. 

(3)  The  man  dislikes  the  job. 

(4)  He  lacks  a  sense  of  responsibility  on  his  job. 

(5)  He  does  not  want  to  work. 

(1)  Sense  of  Accuracy  or  Other  QuMifications  Lack- 
ing,— ^It  is  well  known  that  different  men  differ  in  their  sense 
of  exactness  or  accuracy,  or,  in  other  words,  in  the  degree  to 
which  they  can  think  accurately  or  can  carry  out  accurate 


t 


402 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


operations.  Some  people  simply  cannot  notice  beyond  cer- 
tain accuracy  limits.  Such  a  man,  for  example,  might  read 
a  thermometer,  yet  it  might  be  impossible  to  make  him  grasp 
the  necessity  of  reading  the  instrument  at  any  given  time  or 
the  scale  to  one-tenth  of  a  degree.  He  simply  cannot  see 
why  reading  somewhere  near  the  proper  time  or  within  a 
degree  or  so  is  not  just  as  all  right  as  reading  to  exactly  the 
right  fraction  of  a  degree.  Sometimes  he  realizes  the  neces- 
sity of  doing  it,  but  simply  does  not  seem  to  be  able  to  do  it. 
In  either  case  he  will  make  a  case  of  persistent  carelessness 
on  that  job. 

In  some  cases  a  job  calls  for  special  qualifications  and 
where  these  are  lacking  we  have  a  case  of  persistent  careless- 
ness, a  standard  example  of  this  would  be  a  girl  in  a  millinery 
shop  who  persistently  got  the  wrong  colors  in  trimming  hats. 
Investigation  might  show  that  she  was  color  blind  and  did  not 
know  it.  As  is  well  known  this  matter  of  possible  "care- 
lessness" resulting  from  color  blindness  is  so  important  in  the 
case  of  pilots  that  special  qualifying  tests  are  used. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  managerial  problem  here 
is  to  get  the  worker  off  of  any  job  where  he  cannot  meet  the 
accuracy  or  other  special  requirements,  and  if  he  is  other- 
wise all  right,  get  him  on  to  a  job  where  he  can  hold  it  down 
properly,  but  save  the  man. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— This  simply  means  an  intel- 
ligent use  of  transfer  rather  than  of  discharge  and  needs  no 
special  consideration  here. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.- The  only  practical  way  to 
deal  with  cases  of  lack  of  "accuracy  sense"  is  by  getting 
someone  on  the  job  who  has  enough  sense  of  accuracy  to 
hold  it  down.  Such  a  case  gets  us  into  the  problem  of 
'^matching  man  qualifications  to  job  qualifications,"  already 
taken  up  in  another  chapter,  and  so  needs  no  further  con- 
sideration here  from  that  angle. 

In  such  cases,  a  man  often  can  be  transferred  to  work 
that  does  not  make  demands  on  him  beyond  his  "accuracy 
limits,"  as,  for  instance,  a  man  failing  on  a  machine  job 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


45$ 


gauged  to  1/10000  inch,  might  do  entirely  satisfactory  work 
on  rough  facing,  or  a  pressman  who  failed  on  making  up 
forms  containing  half-tone  cuts  might  do  good  work  on 
straight  matter. 

(2)  Job  Has  Become  Routme, — Just  as  temporary  care- 
lessness may  be  due  to  being  new  on  the  job,  permanent  care- 
lessness may  be  due  to  having  been  on  the  job  so  long  that  it 
has  become  routine. 

One  illustration  of  this  is  the  case  of  tack-machine  oper- 
ators or  "feeders."  The  operation  of  putting  strips  of  plate 
into  the  machine  requires  the  use  of  a  brake  for  stopping  the 
barrel;  and  after  operating  the  machines  for  a  while  the 
habit  of  not  stopping  the  barrel,  or  "feeding  on  the  fly"  is 
apt  to  be  formed.  This  carelessness  is  very  often  the  cause 
of  breaking  the  "nosepiece,"  which  results  in  laying  up  the 
machine  until  a  new  one  is  made  and  put  on. 

In  the  case  of  safety  the  lack  of  care  due  to  routine  is 
most  apparent.  A  workman  on  a  band  saw  becomes  unduly 
familiar  with  brushing  off  with  his  hand  small  pieces  which 
collect  on  the  saw  table.  Knowing  the  danger  full  well,  he 
becomes  careless  through  routine,  permanently,  with  the 
result  that  most  operators  of  band  saws  have  missing  fingers 
to  show  just  how  serious  this  carelessness  is. 

The  Managerial  Problem. — The  problem  here  is  to  break 
up  the  routine  by  transfer  to  another  job,  or  to  another 
department  but  to  save  the  man. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem— Transferring  Men.— Where 
permanent  carelessness  is  due  to  the  job  having  become 
routine  to  the  man  the  situation  can  often  be  cleared  up  by  a 
transfer  either  to  some  other  job  in  the  department  or  to 
some  other  department.  The  value  of  transferring  rather 
than  discharging  is  discussed  fully  in  the  notes  on  turnover, 
so  that  it  is  enough  to  point  out  here  that  if  transferring  will 
cure  the  trouble  it  costs  the  concern  less  than  discharge,  and, 
unless  usual  conditions  should  be  tried  first. 

(3)  Man  Dislikes  the  Job, — ^Persistent  carelessness  is 
often  due  to  the  fact  that  the  man  is  on  the  wrong  job  and 


vw 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


455 


this  statement  does  not  refer  to  the  working  conditions,  as 
already  discussed,  but  to  something  much  more  diffi- 
cult to  determine.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  certain  kinds  of 
jobs  seem  to  appeal  to  certain  people  and  not  to  others. 
This  is  often  quite  independent  of  the  individual's  qualifica- 
tions for  the  job.  A  job  may  appeal  to  a  man  when  he  is  not 
fitted  to  do  it  well  and  may  not  appeal  to  him  when  he  is  able 
to  hold  it  down  in  good  shape,  though  this  case  is  not  as  com- 
mon as  the  other.  In  some  cases  a  man  may  even  want  to 
tackle  a  job  when  it  is  perfectly  evident  to  everyone  else,  and 
should  be  to  him,  that  he  cannot  make  a  success  of  it.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  a  man  will  often  show  persistent  careless- 
ness on  work  that  does  not  appeal  to  him  and  that  careless- 
ness will  disappear  if  he  gets  a  job  that  does  appeal  to  him. 
The  Managerial  Problem.— The  problem  here  is  to  find 
a  job  that  the  man  likes  and  get  him  on  to  it  wherever  pos- 
sible, or  in  some  way  stop  the  "quarrel  between  the  man  and 
his  job." 

Dealing  with  the  Problem.— This  is  again  a  case  of  the 
intelligent  use  of  transfer  or  in  some  cases,  by  talking  things 
over  with  the  man,  changing  his  attitude  towards  the  job. 
For  example,  men  have  overcome  their  dislike  to  the  job  they 
were  on  and  stuck  to  it  when  they  found  that  it  put  them  in 
the  line  of  promotion,  but  in  general,  the  more  nearly  a  man 
and  his  job  can  "live  together"  the  less  chance  for  per- 
sistent carelessness. 

(4)  Sense  of  Responsibility  Lacking. — This  is  often  the 
result  of  "sending  a  boy,"  that  is,  this  form  of  persistent 
carelessness  is  particularly  liable  to  come  up  in  the  case  of 
young  employees  and  of  inexperienced  men  and  in  both  cases 
for  the  same  reason ;  "they  don't  know  enough  to  be  care- 
ful," that  is,  they  fail  to  realize  what  the  results  of  careless- 
ness may  be  because  they  never  have  seen  the  results.  The 
persistently  careless  automobile  driver  is  the  one  who  has 
never  had  a  bad  smash-up.  He  is  careless  because  he  has  no 
sense  of  what  may  be  the  results  of  careless  driving  and  in 
most  states  children  are  not  allowed  to  drive  cars  because  of 
their  lack  of  experience. 


The  Managerial  Problem. — The  problem  here  is  to  get 
sufficiently  mature  and  experienced  workers  on  to  the  job  to 
secure  the  necessary  sense  of  responsibility. 

Dealing  vnth  the  Problem. — Some  possible  methods  of 
dealing  with  this  managerial  problem  are : 

a.  If  more  or  less  irresponsible  workers  must  be  used, 
to  be  especially  careful  to  cover  all  "high  supervisory  points" 
and  to  "red  flag"  these  points  by  the  use  of  a  suitable  job 
analysis  for  supervisory  value. 

b.  From  a  study  of  job  requirements  and  man  qualifica- 
tions, so  far  as  the  limits  of  the  job  will  permit,  to  "match" 
the  worker  and  the  job. 

c.  The  Man  Does  Not  Want  to  Work, — ^Persistent 
carelessness  may  sometimes  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  man 
does  not  want  to  work.  He  has  no  interest — ^he  has  no  job 
pride.    He  simply  does  not  care. 

While  such  cases  do  occur,  they  are  much  less  common 
than  was  formerly  supposed,  and  when  they  do  occur  are 
often  found  to  be  due  to  the  physical  condition  of  the  man 
as  discussed  in  Chapter  XVI.  This  is  so  true  that  many 
large  concerns  have  found  that  it  paid  to  provide  medical 
service  and  observation,  as  a  means  of  reducing,  among  other 
things,  apparent  persistent  carelessness,  that  seemed  at  first 
glance  to  be  due  to  plain  unwillingness  to  work. 

The  Managerial  Problem.— The  chief  part  of  the  man- 
agerial problem  here  is  to  be  sure  that  it  is  a  case  of  "don't 
care"  before  taking  action  on  that  basis,  bearing  in  mind  the 
statements  made  above. 

Dealing  with  the  Problem. — ^Where  permanent  careless- 
ness is  definitely  determined  as  due  to  the  fact  that  the  man 
does  not  want  to  work,  the  only  remedy  is  discharge,  with  its 
accompanying  cost.  The  danger  here  is  that  the  foreman  will 
often  assume  permanent  carelessness  as  due  to  this  cause 
without  having  thoroughly  studied  the  case.  In  proportion 
as  he  discharges  men  who  could  be  saved  by  proper  handling, 
he  has  increased  his  cost  and  his  management  has  been  poor. 


I 


iMIr 


4M 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


D.    TEMFOSABY    CARELESSNESS 


CARELESSNESS  ON  THE  JOB 


407 


Preliminary. — Section  C  discussed  persistent  careless- 
ness, some  of  its  causes  and  some  suggestions  and  methods  of 
dealing  with  it.  This  section,  in  the  same  way,  takes  up  tem- 
porary carelessness  on  the  job. 

Some  Possible  Causes  of  Accidental  or  Temporary  Care- 
lessness.— ^Among  the  more  common  causes  of  temporary 
carelessness  are : 

1.  Fatigue. 

2.  "Taking  a  chance." 
8.  Illness. 

4.  Difficulties  in  being  careful. 

5.  Temporary  inattention. 

6.  Changes  in  conditions  not  covered  in  instructions. 

7.  Failure  to  understand  the  need  of  special  accuracy  or 
care  on  some  special  point  on  the  job. 

Temporary  Carelessness— Fatigue.— Often  a  man  who  is 
temporarily  careless  is  overtired;  that  is,  the  cause  of  his 
carelessness  is  fatigue.  Of  course,  this  fatigue  may  be  the 
result  of  overwork  due  to  "work"  conditions  in  the  depart- 
ment, or  of  overtime,  or  failure  to  secure  proper  rest  or  relax- 
ation outside  of  the  department. 

A  case  of  this  kind  would  be  one  where,  after  putting  in  a 
regular  day's  work,  a  draftsman  undertakes  to  work  three 
or  four  evenings  a  week  until  eleven  o'clock.  The  chances  of 
his  making  an  error  through  carelessness  is  much  more  than 
if  his  regular  working  day  was  all  he  under »,ook.  Often  a 
workman  is  prevented  by  home  conditions,  such  as  sickness 
or  accident,  from  getting  proper  rest  and  comes  to  his  work 
in  the  morning  after  having  been  up  all  night  with  a  sick 
wife  or  child,  and  as  a  result,  he  is  temporarily  careless  dur- 
ing working  hours  the  next  day. 

Temporary  Carelessness — Spotting  the  Real  Cause. — 
The  first  step  in  working  out  the  managerial  problem  in  all 
these  cases  is  to  spot  the  true  cause,  in  order  that  the  right 
action  may  be  taken.  For  example,  in  a  case  of  temporary 
carelessness  that  was  under  analysis  it  might  appear  that 
the  carelessness  was  due  to  working  overtime  or  to  doing  addi- 


tional work  outside  as  in  the  case  of  the  draftsman  just  de- 
scribed. It  might  be  due  to  taking  a  chance,  as  where  a  man 
is  in  a  hurry  and  tried  to  "short  circuit"  a  job.  It  may  be 
due  to  some  form  of  temporary  illness  as  discussed  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter.  It  may  be  due  to  some  temporary  loss  of 
attention  as  some  group  of  distinguished  visitors  coming  into 
the  department.  Causes  of  this  kind  are  usually  easy  to 
locate,  but  some  of  the  other  possible  causes  are  likely  to 
make  more  trouble.  For  example,  in  some  cases  unexpected 
conditions  may  come  up  that  were  not  covered  by  the  instruc- 
tions or  that  the  worker  does  not  know  how  to  deal  with  but 
thinks  that  he  does.  He  goes  ahead  and  as  a  result  there  is 
trouble  that  is  evidently  due  to  some  form  of  carelessness. 
Under  these  conditions  the  worker  is  not  likely  to  willingly 
admit  what  the  matter  was,  and  so  a  case  of  this  kind  may  be 
difficult  to  spot.  The  same  statement  is  likely  to  be  true  for 
the  last  possible  cause  as  given  and  for  the  same  reasons. 

The  Managerial  Policy. — ^What  may  be  called  the  man- 
agerial policy  in  such  cases,  after  having  decided  that  the 
case  is  one  of  temporary  carelessness,  and  spotted  the  cause, 
is  to  remove  the  cause  and  do  it  at  minimum  cost.  This 
means,  first,  saving  the  man  for  the  plant.  Second,  adjusting 
the  difficulty  without  losing  anything  on  the  human  factor 
elements.  In  this  connection  one  or  two  suggestions  may 
be  of  service. 

(1)  Making  it  Easy  to  he  Careful, — ^It  is  quite  often  pos- 
sible to  remedy  temporary  carelessness  by  making  it  easy  to 
be  careful.  The  use  of  automobile  safety  devices,  or  of  jigs 
and  fixtures,  or  templets,  illustrates  this  point.  As  another 
example,  there  might  be  a  pressure  gauge  that  it  was  im- 
portant to  have  read  accurately,  and  that  gauge  might  be 
located  in  an  inaccessible  place,  so  that  a  man  had  to  climb 
a  ladder  or  stand  in  an  awkward  position  to  reach  it,  or 
might  be  in  a  dark  corner  where  it  was  very  difficult  to  see 
to  read  it.  Bringing  the  gauge  down  to  eye  level  and  putting 
a  shaded  electric  light  in  front  of  it  might  entirely  remedy 
the  difficulty. 

(2)  Seeing  that  Instructions,  are  CUarlif  Understood.—* 


I 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


No  matter  how  much  a  man  has  been  told  about  a  job,  unless 
he  has  "got"  it  he  is  liable  to  show  temporary  carelessness. 
In  such  cases  it  is  of  very  little  use  to  reinstruct  the  man 
unless  means  are  taken  to  be  sure  that  he  has  "got"  the  in- 
struction. Questioning  him  on  his  job  or  taking  time  to 
watch  him  on  his  job  will  usually  show  whether  the  necessary 
points  have  been  "put  over"  effectively.  Under  the  pressure 
of  getting  out  products,  foremen  are  liable  to  neglect  this 
"checking  up"  part  of  instructing  men,  with  a  corresponding 
increase  in  operating  costs  as  a  result. 

(3)  Seeing  that  the  Need  of  Accuracy  or  Care  is  FvUy 
Understood. — In  almost  any  job  there  are  some  operating 
points  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  accuracy  or  care  re- 
quired, "stick  out,"  that  is,  many  operating  points  only  re- 
quire ordinary  or  even  little  care,  while  certain  points  require 
great  care.  An  illustration  would  be  the  difference  in  care 
required  in  taking  a  rough  cut  or  a  fine  cut  in  the  machine 
shop,  or,  in  an  alum  plant,  in  getting  crystallized  alum  out 
of  the  tanks,  where  the  center  can  be  broken  out  with  little 
care  but  when  working  near  the  sides  or  bottom  great  care 
is  required  not  to  break  the  lead  lining.  Men  will  often  get 
the  general  idea  of  how  to  carry  on  the  different  operations 
on  their  jobs  without  fully  understanding  where  the  "high- 
care"  operations  are  as  distinguished  from  the  "low-care" 
operations  and  this  is  usually  due  to  a  failure  to  make  the 
man  understand  why  accuracy  or  care  is  necessary  at  those 
points.  In  instructing  or  directing  the  men,  sufficient  em- 
phasis has  not  been  laid  on  these  points,  or  the  man  has  failed 
to  get  them.  Under  these  conditions,  temporary  careless- 
ness can  often  be  remedied  by  getting  the  men  to  thinking 
about  why  certain  operations  require  extra  care,  so  that  when 
they  reach  that  point  the  need  of  care  will  come  up  in 
their  minds. 


PAETX 

THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 


CHAPTER  XXV 


THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 

Preliminary.— As  stated  in  Chapter  II  the  third  fore- 
man's job  is  instructing  or  training  (both  words  mean  the 
same  thing),  and  is  quite  a  distinct  piece  of  work  from  either 
supervision  or  management,  calling  for  a  different  kind  of 
responsibility  as  to  auxiliary  information,  different  "job 
knowledge  "  and  different  "  working  conditions."  This  dif- 
ference is  so  marked  that  a  good  supervisor  may  be  a  very 
poor  instructor,  and,  in  fact,  this  is  very  often  the  case.  A 
good  manager  is  more  likely  to  make  a  good  instructor  but 
even  then  he  is  likely  to  do  some  pretty  poor  instructing 
unless  he  has,  in  some  way,  learned  something  about  the 
"  teaching  trade  "  as  it  is  practiced  by  good  workers  in  that 
trade,  that  is,  by  good  teachers. 

Why  Foremen  Do  Not  Often  Think  of  Themselves  as 
Instructors.— An  instructor  or  a  teacher,  for  both  words 
mean  the  same  thing,  is  simply  somebody  who  can  do  some 
kind  of  a  job  and  who,  in  some  way  takes  hold  of  someone 
else  who  cannot  do  that  job  and  gets  them  so  that  they  can 
do  it.  It  makes  no  difference  how,  when  or  where  this 
"putting  over"  of  job  ability  was  done;  whoever  did  it, 
was  an  instructor  and  did  an  instructing  job.  Most  fore- 
men do  some  sort  of  an  instructing  job  all  the  time  but  they 
do  not  think  of  themselves  as  instructors  because  they  do 
not  instruct  in  a  "  school,"  nobody  calls  them  "  teacher,** 
they  do  not  have  "  classes."  These  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  question  as  to  whether  a  foreman  does,  or  does  not  have 
instructing  responsibilities.  This  fact  must  be  determined 
by  asking  the  question :  "  Does  he  have  to  put  over  to  others 
any  sort  of  ability  to  do  a  job,  never  mind  how,  when  or 

461 


4(» 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 


498 


where?  "  and  if  the  answer  is  "  Yes  "  that  foreman  is  an 
instructor  and  has  some  sort  of  instructing  responsibilities. 
The  Instructor  and  the  Learner.— So  far  as  this  book  is 
concerned,  anybody  having  instructing  jobs,  no  matter  what 
he  may  be  called,  is  an  instructor.  Anybody  who  has  job 
ability  put  over  to  him  is  a  learner.  An  instructor  does  an 
instructing  job  with  a  learner  and  he  does  a  good  job  or 
a  poor  job  in  proportion  as  that  learner  can  or  cannot  do  a 
first-class  piece  of  work  when  the  instructor  has  finished 
with  him. 

The  Foreman's  Instructing  Job.— In  almost  all  cases  a 
foreman  must  do  more  or  less  instructing  or  "  breaking  in." 
Whenever  new  workers  come  in  they  must  be  instructed  in 
something  before  they  are  thoroughly  competent.  This  is 
true  even  when  a  man  is  transferred  from  another  depart- 
ment, or  comes  from  another  concern  doing  the  same  sort 
of  work.  There  are  always  some  things  that  are  different, 
or  that  are  done  differently,  or  a  difference  in  shop  practice 
or  procedure,  that  the  new  man  must  somehow  get  from 
somebody,  and  that  somebody  is  an  instructor,  so  far  as  he 
has  the  job  of  putting  over  what  he  knows,  and  this  instruct- 
ing job  often  falls  upon  the  foreman. 

Instructing  as  Distinguished  From  Ordering  or  Direct- 
ing.—The  term  "  instructing  "  is  used  so  much  by  foremen 
in  the  sense  of  ordering  or  directing,  that  its  meaning  when 
used  in  that  way  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  its 
use  as  meaning  teaching,  A  man  who  knows  the  job  can 
be  instructed  to  do  it  and  so,  in  this  case,  he  is  really  directed 
or  ordered.  A  man  who  does  not  know  the  job  may  be 
instructed  on  how  to  do  it,  that  is,  he  can  be  taught. 
Instructing,  as  the  term  is  used  in  this  chapter  and  in 
those  following,  always  means  "  putting  over  "  and  not  order- 
ing or  directing. 

Instructing  Always  a  "Side  Line"  for  Foremen.— The 
instructing  job  of  a  foreman  must  always  be  more  or  less 
of  a  "  side  line  "  because  he  cannot  neglect  his  two  main 


' 


jobs,  supervision  and  management,  in  order  to  do  much 
training.  If  any  great  amount  of  training  is  required,  it 
becomes  a  "  drag  "  on  the  foreman,  and  since  he  naturally 
feels  that  his  first  responsibilities  are  on  his  work  in  connec- 
tion with  his  regular  jobs,  he  is  unable  to  give  the  training 
proper  attention.  In  this  case,  if  men  have  to  be  trained, 
they  are  either  trained  badly,  or  slowly,  and  in  either  case, 
this  is  poor  instructing  management  and  other  methods  for 
securing  efficient  training  should  be  adopted.  Under  these 
conditions  many  concerns  have  found  it  advisable  to  arrange 
to  have  certain  people  work  entirely  as  instructors  and  so 
relieve  the  foreman  of  the  direct  responsibility  for  teaching. 
Such  instructors  are  sometimes  called  "instructing  fore- 
men "  to  distinguish  them  from  the  regular,  or  production, 
foremen  and  are  also  often  called  "  instructors."  What- 
ever their  name,  the  point  is  that  their  job  is  to  put  over 
to  workers  what  they  need  to  get  before  they  are  competent 
on  the  jobs  to  which  they  are  assigned. 

Such  instructors  may  be  attached  to  the  force  of  the 
department  and  work  under  the  foreman,  or  may  be  attached 
to  a  distinct  department,  a  training  department  whose  busi- 
ness is  to  see  that  workers  are  properly  trained  before  they 
are  turned  over  to  regular  production  work.  When  the 
job  of  the  training  department  is  only  to  train  green  help, 
it  is  sometimes  called  a  Vestibule  School, 

So  far  as  they  are  considered  in  this  book,  the  questions 
of  training  assume  that  it  will  be  given  by  the  foreman, 

as  a  "  side  line."* 

Some  Possible  Instructing  Responsibilities. — ^Among  the 

more  important  kinds  of  instructing  responsibilities  that  may 

come  into  a  foreman's  job  are  the  following: 

1.  Responsibilities    in    connection    with    some    plan    of 

organized  instruction. 

♦  A  foreman,  who  is  interested  in  the  question  of  training  in  relation 
to  the  foreman's  two  regular  jobs,  will  find  a  full  discussion  of  this 
question  in  "The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The  Job." 


i 


4^ 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


2.  Responsibilities  in  connection  with  unorganized  in- 
struction, 

3.  Cooperative  responsibilities  with  inatructrng  agencies 
not  under  his  direct  control. 

Since  these  terms  may  require  some  explanation  they  are 
taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

What  Is  Meant  by  Organized  Instruction.— This  has 
been  called  training  by  intention.  Under  this  plan  some- 
body has  the  job  of  training  (instructing)  whoever  needs 
to  be  trained  and  he  knows  that  it  is  either  all  of  his  job,  oi 
a  part  of  it.  In  either  case  instructing  responsibility  is 
fixed.  Some  illustration]^  of  training  by  intention  would  be, 
an  apprentice  scheme,  or  some  sort  of  a  special  training  plan 
for  new  employees,  with  somebody  whose  job  it  was  to  take 
care  of  them  during  the  training  period.  Definite  training 
departments  whose  business  is  to  see  to  it  that  all  untrained 
or  partly  trained  employees  are  "  fixed  up,"  so  that  they 
are  competent,  before  they  are  turned  over  to  the  foreman, 
and  trade  schools  are  other  examples  of  organized  in- 
struction or  training. 

Responsibilities  Under  Organized  Training.— In  general 
a  foreman  may  have  either  of  two  kinds  of  responsibilities 
in  connection  with  organized  training. 

1.  Responsibilities  for  giving  the  training  himself. 

2.  Responsibilities  for  supervising  the  training  as  given 
by  somebody  else. 

An  example  of  the  first  case  would  be  where  a  group  of 
apprentices  were  to  be  given  instruction  on  the  job  by  the 
foreman,  or  where  he  had  the  responsibility  for  the  breaking 
in  of  green  men  himself. 

An  example  of  the  second  case  would  be  where  a  green 
operator  was  placed  with  a  good  worker  and  the  good  worker 
was  told  to  show  the  green  employee  how  to  do  the  job.  In 
such  a  case,  while  the  foreman  would  not  have  the  responsi- 
bility of  actually  giving  the  instruction,  he  might  be  responsi- 
ble  for  knowing  that  it  was  given  or  that  it  had  been 


THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 


465 


thorough.  The  same  would  be  true  if  the  training  were  given 
by  an  instructor  who  was  responsible  to  the  foreman. 

What  is  Meant  by  Unorganized  Instruction? — ^This  has 
been  caUed  training  by  absorption.  Where  this  method  is 
used  there  are  no  definite  arrangements  made  for  traimng 
and  whatever  a  man  gets  he  "  absorbs  "  from  others,  the 
foreman  or  from  his  fellow  workers.  New  men  "pick  up 
their  work"  as  well  as  they  can,  hence  this  is  sometimes 
called  "the  pick-up  method."  Men  get  what  information 
they  can  from  others  on  the  same  kind  of  jobs.  Perhaps 
they  find  a  "  good  fellow  "  and  get  next  to  him  at  the  noon 
hour.  Perhaps  they  don't.  "  They  use  their  eyes  and  their 
mouths."  In  this  way  they  gradually  get  so  that  they  can 
do  some  sort  of  a  job  or  else  get  fired.  If  they  are  able  to 
hold  the  job  while  they  are  learning  they  are  finally  absorbed 
in  to  the  regular  working  force,  hence  the  name. 

It  will  be  noted  that,  undei]  this  method,  it  is  absolutely 
nobody's  business  to  look  out  for  the  learner  while  he  is 
learning.  He  is  left  entirely  on  his  own.  He  gets  what  he 
can  anyway  that  he  can. 

A  second  difference  between  organized  and  unorganized 
instruction  is  in  the  way  that  the  instruction  is,  or  is  not 
laid  out.  For  example,  in  the  case  of  training  apprentices 
there  may  be  an  agreement  that  an  apprentice  is  to  have 
a  certain  number  of  weeks  on  different  machines^  or  there 
might  be  an  arrangement  whereby  apprentices  were  to  put 
two  hours  a  week  on  drawing  or  mathematics,  according  to 
some  sort  of  a  schedule  specifying  what  subjects  were  to  be 
taken  up  and  in  what  order.  This  amounts  to  saying  that, 
where  there  is  organized  instruction  there  is  some  sort  of  a 
routing  sheet  laid  out  that  shows  that  the  instruction  is  to 
be  given  in  a  certain  order  and  what  the  subjects  to  be  taught 
are  to  be.  A  regular  school  teacher  would  call  such  an 
instructional  routing  sheet  a  program  or  a  course  of  study. 

As  against  that,  an  unorganized  piece  of  instructional 
work  would  be  where  any  instruction  that  was  given  would 

SO 


480 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


■■j| 


f,  i 


be  incidental,  that  is,  if  somebody  did  not  happen  to  know 
how  to  do  something,  someone  else  who  did  know  would 
instruct  him.  A  good  example  of  this  sort  of  instruction  is 
the  common  case  where  a  workman  gets  a  job  that  is  a 
little  different  from  what  he  is  used  to  and  the  foreman 
instructs  him  how  to  make  any  special  changes  or  adaptations 
of  tools  or  machines  that  may  be  necessary. 

Organized  instruction  therefore  always  has  definite 
instructing  responsibility  fixed  on  somebody  and  has  some 
sort  of  a  schedule  (program)  through  which  the  learner 
is  put. 

Unorganized  instruction  has  no  fixed  responsibility  and 
no  program.  Instruction  is  incidental  and  anybody  gives 
it  who  happens  to  be  around  and  who  knows  enough.  If  they 
have  time  or  are  good-natured  or  interested  in  the  learner. 

Cooperating  With  Other  Instructing  Agencies.— In  addi- 
tion to  possible  responsibilities  as  to  organized  or  unorganized 
instruction  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  foreman  may  have 
cooperative  responsibilities  with  regard  to  other  instructing 
agencies,  and  these  may,  in  general  be  of  two  kinds : 

1.  Cooperating  with  plant  agencies. 

2.  Cooperating  with  outside  agencies. 

For  example,  a  plant  may  offer  a  course  in  Mechanical 
Drawing  for  its  apprentices  or  may  operate  a  training 
department.  In  either  case  it  is  up  to  the  foremen  to  do 
whatever  they  can  to  help  and  not  hinder.  They  can  "throw 
it  down"  or  help  it  along  with  those  that  it  is  intended  to 
help  or  with  those  who  have  the  work  in  charge.  For  example, 
during  the  war  many  plants  did  set  up  some  sort  of  organ- 
ized training  to  take  care  of  the  great  number  of  green 
workers  that  were  taken  on  and  who,  if  they  had  been 
turned  loose  into  a  production  department  would  have 
swamped  it.  Without  regard  to  the  instructional  efficiency 
of  such  schemes  (some  were  good  and  some  were  bad,  for 
that  matter),  in  many  cases  foremen  did  all  they  could 
to  keep  such  plans  from  being  successful  although,  as  a  rule 


THE  INSTRUCTING  JOB 


467 


they  did  not  look  into  the  matter  at  all.  If  they  thought 
the  thing  was  not  being  carried  on  right  they  did  not  offer 
any  suggestions  for  improvement;  in  some  cases,  if  they 
knew  that  a  worker  had  been  trained  in  the  training  scheme, 
whatever  it  was,  they  discriminated  against  him  in  every 
possible  way,  they  never  lost  a  chance  to  throw  the  propo- 
sition down  before  the  men.  This  was  certainly  not  coopera- 
tion but  quite  the  contrary.  On  the  other  hand,  other  fore- 
men took  pains  to  find  out  what  the  training  scheme  was 
for,  how  it  was  doing  its  job,  and  helped  those  in  charge  by 
suggestions  based  on  their  knowledge  of  shop  requirements 
and  working  conditions.  The  second  type  of  foremen 
recognized  their  cooperative  responsibilities  and  discharged 
them.  The  first  type  either  failed  to  recognize  them,  or 
deliberately  refused  to  discharge  them  for  various  reasons  not 
worth  giving  here. 

The  case  of  cooperating  with  outside  instructing  agencies 
is  somewhat  different.  For  example,  there  are  now  in  many 
communities  educational  and  training  opportunities  such 
as  free  evening  classes  both  in  trade  work  and  in  general 
education.  Sometimes  such  courses  are  conducted  by  insti- 
tutions that  charge  only  a  nominal  fee.  A  foreman  who 
feels  that  he  has  cooperative  responsibilities  in  this  matter 
will,  for  example,  inform  himself  as  to  the  opportunities  and 
their  value,  and  will  advise  his  men,  if  they  are  ambitious, 
as  to  where  they  may  get  such  education  or  training  as  they 
may  need  or  may  desire.  To  the  extent  to  which  he  does  this 
sort  of  thing  he  recognizes  this  cooperating  responsibility 
and  discharges  it. 


•I 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
SECTION  I.  EFFICIENT  INSTRUCTION 

Cost  Elements  on  Instruction.— When  we  come  to  con- 
sider the  matter  of  cost  elements  in  instruction  we  have  to 
look  at  the  matter  in  a  different  way  from  what  we  have 
been  doing  up  to  this  time.  In  all  matters  relating  to  mana- 
gerial responsibilities  up  to  this  time  the  one  managerial 
problem  has  been  to  cut  cost,  but  when  we  get  into  the 
instructing  field  the  basic  cost  elements  change.  While  cost 
is  an  important  matter,  the  main  managerial  problem  is 
to  secure  efficient  instruction,  and  it  often  happens  that  the 
cheapest  instruction  is  the  least  efficient. 

The  cost  elements  in  instruction  may  therefore  be  set 
down  as  follows: 

1.  The  degree  to  which  the  learner  is  thoroughly 
instructed,  so  that  he  can  do  a  100  per  cent.  job. 

2.  The  time  spent  in  instructing  him. 

3.  The  cost  of  that  time. 

4.  The  degree  to  which  the  instructing  job  is  put 
across  easily. 

The  Problem.— What  may  be  called  the  instruction 
managerial  problem  for  anybody  that  has  responsibilities 
for  putting  over  instructing  jobs  might  be  stated  as  fol- 
lows: To  secure  as  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent,  job  ability 
with  the  least  necessary  expenditure  of  time  and  at  the  least 
necessary  cost. 

That  is,  the  better  the  learner  can  do  the  job  on  which 
he  was  instructed,  the  quicker  he  gets  so  that  he  can  do  it 
and  the  less  it  cost,  provided  the  other  two  reatdts  are 
obtained,  the  better  the  instructing  job  has  been  handled 
from  the  instructional  managerial  standpoint. 

488 


EFFICIENT  INSTRUCTION 


460 


The  Completeness  of  Instruction. — ^The  purpose  of  any 
instruction  that  is  given  in  connection  with  the  work  jobs  of 
any  kind  is  either  to  make  a  better  man  out  of  a  man  who  is 
already  employed  on  that  job,  or  to  make  a  competent 
worker  out  of  a  man  who  is  green  on  that  job.  That  is, 
the  purpose  if  all  instructiori  is  to  add  to  the  knowledge,  or 
skill  or  intelligence  that  is  required  to  do  a  job  in  first-class 
shape.  If  the  instructing  job  has  been  attempted  and  a 
first-class  worker  on  that  job  has  not  been  obtained,  the 
time  and  the  effort  expended  have,  to  that  extent  been  wasted 
just  as  much  as,  in  a  production  job,  when  time,  power, 
material  and  men  have  been  used  on  a  job  the  result  has 
been  a  product  that  did  not  meet  specifications  or  had  to  be 
junked.  In  either  case  there  is  an  increased  overhead.  The 
money  has  been  spent  and  "  we  have  not  got  a  full  return 
on  the  investment."  Instructional  cost,  as  the  term  is  used 
here,  will  therefore  be  reduced  in  proportion  as  the  instructed 
learner  becomes  a  one  himdred  per  cent,  worker  on  whatever 
job  he  was  instructed  upon. 

Time  Cost. — Evidently,  all  other  things  being  equal,  the 
less  time  used  up  in  instruction,  the  more  quickly  the  instruct- 
ing job  is  put  across,  the  less  the  cost.  The  more  time 
spent  in  putting  over  the  instructing  job,  the  greater  the 
cost.  The  second  cost  element  is  therefore  time,  and,  pro- 
vided the  instructing  job  is  properly  done,  the  less  the  time 
the  less  the  cost. 

The  second  time-cost  element  is  first  the  actual  value 
of  the  time  of  the  person  who  gives  the  instruction  compared 
with  the  valiie  of  his  time  if  used  for  some  other  purpose, 
and  second,  the  time  of  the  learner  himself.  In  general,  if 
a  man  all  of  whose  experience  has  been  on  production  jobs 
undertakes  to  put  across  instruction  jobs,  it  may  be  a  ques- 
tion but  what  the  cheaper  way  is  to  have  that  man  save  all 
his  time  to  attend  to  production  jobs,  or  to  whatever  jobs 
he  may  be  an  expert  at  doing,  and  give  the  instruction 


470 


TH£  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


jobs    to    somebody    who    makes    a    business    of    handling 
instruction  work. 

The  Instructing  Process.— Whenever  we  have  the  in- 
structor-learner relation  it  means  that  some  sort  of  an 
instructing  job  has  to  be  done.  Like  any  other  job,  it  may 
be  done  poorly,  in  which  case  the  product  is  of  poor  quality, 
that  is,  the  learner  only  partly  "  got "  what  was  to  be  put 
over,  or  it  may  be  well  don^,  in  which  case  the  product  will 
be  "up  to  specifications,"  that  is,  the  learner  will  have 
"  got "  completely  whatever  was  to  be  put  over.  The 
instructing  job  may  be  so  badly  done  that  the  product  is 
only  "spoiled  material,"  as  where  the  learner  has  learned 
nothing  at  all,  or  has  learned  something  wrong  and  so  is 
worse  off  than  he  was  when  he  did  not  know  anything.  That 
is,  it  is  just  as  possible  to  do  a  good  job,  or  a  fair  job,  or 
a  poor  job  in  instructing  as  it  is  in  production  work,  and 
when  we  say  that  a  man  is  a  good,  poor  or  average  instructor 
we  mean,  for  instructing  jobs,  just  what  we  mean  for  pro- 
duction jobs  when  we  say  that  a  man  is  a  good,  poor  or 
average  workman. 

We  all  know  that  a  production  job  is  always  carried  out 
by  performing  certain  operations  or  carrying  out  certain 
processes  that  belong  with  that  job,  and  that  though  the 
same  job  often  be  done  in  different  ways  in  many  cases  there 
is  always  a  best  way  of  doing  it  that  an  expert  workman 
will  always  use.  This  is  exactly  as  true  of  an  instructing 
job;  it  can  be  done  in  a  number  of  ways,  but  there  is  always 
a  best  way,  and  that  way  will  be  used  by  an  expert  instructor. 
Just  as  a  first-class  workman  will  turn  out  a  first-class  prod- 
uct because  he  knows  the  best  way  of  doing  the  production 
job,  and  has  the  necessary  skill,  while  an  inferior  workman 
will  turn  out  a  poorer  product,  so  an  expert  instructor  will 
do  a  first-class  instructing  job  because  he  knows  the  best 
way  of  doing  it  and  has  the  necessary  instructing  skill. 

It  has  just  been  pointed  out  that  whenever  a  man  does 
a  production  job  he  must  do  somethmg.    In  the  same  way, 


EFFICIENT  INSTRUCTION 


471 


11 


when  a  man  does  an  instructing  job  he  must  do  something. 
Whatever  he  does  in  connection  with  a  putting  over  job  is 
an  instructing  operation,  that  is,  he  carries  on  some  kind 
of  an  instructing  process. 

The  vnstructmg  process  is  therefore  whatever  a  Tnan 
who  has  an  instruction  job  does  to  put  that  job  across. 

Good  and  Poor  Instructing  Processes. — Just  as  it  is 
possible  to  look  at  a  workman  on  a  job  and  tell  whether  he 
is  doing  a  good  job  or  a  poor  job,  so  it  is  possible  to  watch 
an  instructor  at  work  and  tell  whether  he  is  doing  a  good  or 
a  poor  instructing  job.  That  is,  it  is  possible  to  spot  the 
characteristics,  or  "  ear  marks  "  of  a  good  instructing  job 
just  as  it  is  possible  to  spot  the  "  ear  marks  "  of  a  good 
production  job.  Some  of  the  more  important  of  these  are 
taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

The  Evidence  of  Good  Instruction. — ^Whenever  an 
instructing  job  is  being  carried  on,  if  it  is  being  well  done 
at  least  the  following  things  can  be  noted. 

1.  Both  the  instructor  and  the  learner  know  exactly 
what  the  particular  putting  over  job  is.  The  instructor 
knows  exactly  what  he  is  trying  to  teach  and  the  learner 
knows  exactly  what  he  is  trying  to  learn.  In  instructing 
language  this  situation  would  be  expressed  by  saying  that 
the  aim  of  the  instruction  was  clearly  understood  both  by 
the  instructor  and  the  learner. 

2.  The  learner  is  interested.  This  term  is  used  here  in 
exactly  the  same  sense  that  it  was  used  in  connection  with 
the  human  factor  block.  When  we  say  that  a  learner  is 
interested  we  simply  mean  that  he  wants  to  learn. 

3.  The  instructor  takes  up  what  is  to  be  put  over  point 
by  point  and  sees  that  each  point  is  cleared  up  before  he 
goes  onto  the  next.  For  example,  if  he  is  instructing  on  a 
job  having  four  operations,  according  to  the  analysis,  he 
thoroughly  covers  operation  number  one  before  going  onto 
operation  number  two,  and  so  on  through  the  successive 


4n% 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


operation  number  two,  and  so  on  through  the  successive 
operations  in  that  job. 

4.  Whenever  possible  he  makes  the  learner  think,  or  do. 
For  example,  in  instructing  on  a  machine  operation,  the 
instructor  does  not  simply  teU  the  learner  how  to  do  it,  and 
let  it  go  at  that,  but  he  makes  the  learner  do  it,  and  think 
while  he  is  doing  it. 

6.  Before  he  finishes  the  instructing  job  the  instructor 
tests  out  the  learner  to  make  sure  that  he  has  entirely  got 
what  was  to  be  put  over.  He  "  inspects  his  product "  just 
as  any  good  workman  would  do. 

The  Evidence  of  Poor  Instruction. — ^If  we  observe  the 
work  of  a  poor  instructor  we  will  notice  at  least  the  follow- 
ing points. 

1.  The  instructor  does  not  know  exactly  what  he  is 
trying  to  put  over. 

2.  He  does  not  take  up  the  instructing  job  point 
by  point. 

3.  The  learner  is  confused  as  to  just  what  is  being 
put  over. 

4.  There  is  no  final  check  up. 

6.  The  instructor  does  all  the  talking,  does  all  the  work 
and  does  all  of  the  thinking. 

Good  and  Poor  Instructing  Processes. — From  the  above 
statements  and  examples  it  is  evident  that  instruction  can  be 
carried  on  in  different  ways,  this  is,  that  different  instruct- 
ing processes  can  be  used  with  correspondingly  different  effi- 
ciencies as  to  the  result  of  the  instrusting  job.  That  is, 
some  instructing  processes  are  more  effective  than  others, 
and  that  a  good  instructor  must  know  the  most  effective 
instructing  processes  and  be  able  to  use  it  in  his  instruct- 
ing jobs. 

While,  as  will  be  explained  a  little  later  there  is  only 
one  effective  instructing  process,  there  are  a  number  of  proc- 
esses that  the  people  who  use  them  think  are  instructing 


EFFICIENT  INSTRUCTION 


478 


processes.     Among   the   more    common   of    these    "  fake  '* 
instructing  processes  are  showing  and  telling. 

Why  Telling  is  Not  Instructing. — ^This  is  one  of  the  most 
common  imitation  instructing  processes.  A  great  many 
people  who  have  instructing  responsibilities  honestly  do  not 
see  why  when  they  have  told  a  learner  how  to  do  a  job  they 
have  not  instructed  him  and  are  often  very  much  disturbed 
because  it  appears  afterwards  that  he  cannot  do  that  job. 
Telling  is  often  a  part  of  the  work  of  an  instructor,  but 
mere  telling,  in  itself,  is  not  a  real  instructing  process.    It 

wont  "  deliver  the  goods." 

Mere  telling  is  not  a  true  instructing  process  because 
the  real  instructing  process  always  makes  the  learner  think, 
or  do  something,  or  in  most  cases,  makes  him  do  both. 
Merely  saying  to  him,  "This  is  a  Stillson  wrench,"  and 
stopping  there  does  not  make  the  learner  either  think  or 
do.  He  just  takes  in  a  name,  that  is  all.  On  the  other  hand 
a  learner  can  be  instructed  in  the  proper  method;  of  using  a 
Stillson  wrench  to  set  up  a  threaded  joint,  and  he  can  be 
made  to  think  about  such  matters  as  the  danger  of  stripping 
threads,  not  crossing  threads  and  so  on,  and  he  can  he  made 
to  set  up  that  joint.  Unless  this  is  done,  and  he  is  merely 
told  how  to  do  it,  he  may  have  been  given  a  lot  of  informa- 
tion about  the  job,  but  he,  himself,  has  not  learned  how  to 
do  that  job.  For  example,  he  has  never  "  felt "  the  thread 
set  into  the  elbow,  or  the  coupling,  or  the  "  feel "  of  the 
wrench  when  it  grips  the  pipe  right. 

Telling  therefore  is  not  a  true  instructing  process  because 
it  requires  no  "  come  back  "  on  the  part  of  the  learner. 

Why  Showing  is  Not  a  True  Instructing  Process.— 
Showing  is  not  a  true  instructing  process  because,  as  in  the 
case  of  telling,  showing  does  not  make  the  learner  either  do 
or  think  about  the  job  that  is  being  taught.  He  can  just 
look  on  and  think  about  his  best  girl,  or  what  movie  he  is 
going  to  that  evening  or  anything  else  that  he  wants  to, 
while  he  is  being  shown  how  to  do  something.     As  will  be 


474 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


pointed  out  later  there  are  ways  of  keeping  his  mind  on 
the  job  that  go  with  the  true  instructing  process,  but  they 
call  for  something  more  than  just  showing. 

The  Real  Instructing  Process.— Since  instructing  has 
been  going  on  for  a  very  long  time,  ever  since  the  beginning 
of  mankind  as  a  matter  of  fact,  some  people  have  had  the 
job  of  instructing,  or  working  at  teaching  jobs.  They  were 
teachers,  for  after  all,  a  teacher  is  anybody  who  has  instruct- 
ing responsibilities.  Now  these  people  who  have  made  a 
business  of  teaching  have  gradually  found  out  the  best  waya 
of  carrying  on  the  instructing  process  just  as  in  production 
work  best  ways  of  carrying  on  operations  and  processes 
have  been  worked  out,  but  while  different  jobs  call  for  dif- 
ferent processes,  for  the  instructing  process  there  is  but 
one  right  way  of  carrying  it  out,  and  this  is  described  in 
the  following  section  so  far  as  it  will  be  of  service  to  a  fore- 
man in  discharging  any  instructional  responsibilities  that 
may  come  into  his  job. 

The  Need  For  Using  an  Efficient  Instructing  Process. — 
The  preceding  statements  should  have  made  plain  that 
wherever  any  instruction  has  to  be  carried  on  the  cost  will 
be  reduced  in  proportion  as  the  most  effective  instructional 
process  is  used.  As  has  already  been  stated  there  is  only 
one  real  instructing  process  and,  if  cost  is  to  be  held  down, 
that  process  must  be  used  and  not  any  of  the  "  fake  "  proc- 
esses used  in  its  place. 

This  instructing  process  is  described  in  the  follow- 
ing chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 

Preliminary.— This  chapter  describes  the  real  instruction 
process  as  it  is  used  by  all  efficient  instructors,  so  far  as  it 
comes  into  the  instructional  work  of  a  foreman.  Since,  as 
has  already  been  pointed  out,  a  foreman  cannot  be  an 
instructor  to  any  great  extent  and  a  supervisor  and  manager 
too,  considerable  information  is  omitted  here  that  would  be 
of  value  to  a  regular  instructor  who  made  a  regular  busi- 
ness of  instructing  and  had  no  other  responsibilities.  * 

The  Lesson.— In  its  simplest  sense  a  lesson  is  merely  a 
teaching  job.  In  teaching  practice,  however,  the  term  lesson 
is  used  to  designate  the  whole  procedure  followed  in  putting 
over  a  teaching  job.  It  includes  not  only  the  job'  to  be 
taught  but  the  way  in  which  it  is  put  over.  The  particular 
thing  or  job  that  is  to  be  put  over  is  called  the  instruction 
unit  or,  as  a  regular  teacher  would  call  it,  the  content  or  the 
subject  of  the  lesson.  For  example,  if  it  were  desired  to 
instruct  in  the  proper  method  of  sharpening  a  plane  iron, 
we  would  say  that  the  teaching  unit  was  "  How  to  sharpen 
a  plane  iron."  If  the  teaching  job  was  to  put  over  the 
proper  method  of  bisecting  an  angle,  we  would  say  that  the 
teaching  unit  was  "  The  method  of  bisecting  an  angle,"  or 
that  "  The  content  of  the  lesson  was  on  the  bisecting  of  an 


*  A  foreman  who  may  become  interested  in  taking  up  the  matter  of 
instruction  more  fully  than  it  is  covered  in  the  following  chapters  can 
find  very  complete  information  in  "The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The 
Job,"  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  That  book  deals 
entirely  with  the  job  of  instructing  in  plants,  and  the  various  matters 
that  are  gone  into  here  briefly  are  there  gone  into  very  fully. 

475 


I! 


«n 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 
PRODUCTION  AND  INSTRUCTION 


Purpose  or  aim. 

To  turn  out  a  defi- 
nite  article    from 
a  given  piece    of 
stock. 

To  instruct  a  given 
individual  in  a 
definite  thing. 

Man  responsible. 

Workman. 

Instructor. 

Material     worked 
upon. 

Stock  new  or  par- 
tially worked  up. 

Learner,  green  or 
partially  trained. 

Procedure. 

Successive     produc- 
tion operations  in  n 
determined  order. 

Successive  instruc- 
tion steps  in  a  de- 
termined order. 

Means  used. 

Suitable    tools    and 
machines. 

Suitable  methods  of 
instruction. 

Character  of  product 
tested  by. 

Inspection  of    prod- 
uct. 

Inspection  of  learn- 
ers' ability  to  do 
the  thing  that  the 
lesson  was  to  teach 
him. 

From  The  Instructor.  The  Man  and  The  Job. 

angle  "  or  that  "  The  subject  of  the  lesson  was  the  bisec- 
ting of  an  angle,"  according  to  the  term  that  we  preferred  to 
use.  In  this  book  the  term  teaching  unit  will  be  used  to 
designate  whatever  the  instructor  undertakes  to  put  over  to 
the  learner.  In  the  same  way  we  can  speak  of  putting  over 
an  instructing  job  or  of  teaching  a  lesson.  Both  mean  the 
same  thing. 

The  Instructing  Process.— The  instructing  process  as 
it  is  used  by  all  good  instructoral  consists  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  operations  which  are  always  carried  out  in  the  same 
order  and  none  of  which  are  ever  omitted.  According  to 
different  instructing  authorities  there  are  from  four  to  seven 
of  these  operations,  but  for  the  purpose  of  shop  instruction 
the  "  four-operation  instructing  job  "  is  the  most  serviceable 
and  so  is  the  one  described  in  this  section. 


THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 


477 


The  Foiu:  Instructing  Operations. — ^According  to  the 
four  operation  lesson  the  job  of  putting  over  any  teaching 
unit  is  carried  out  by  going  through  four  steps  or  instruc- 
tion operations  that  are  designated  as,  Step  1,  Preparation; 
Step  2,  Presentation ;  Step  3,  Application ;  Step  4,  Testing 
or  Inspecting.  Each  of  the  first  three  steps  when  properly 
carried  out  represents  a  "  partial  product "  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  whole  instructing  job  and  the  last  step  gives 
the  "  finished  product,"  just  as,  in  the  case  of  four  serial 
operations  we  have  three  intermediate  products  and  a  fin- 
ished product.  It  must  be  remembered  however,  that  in  the 
case  of  an  instructing  job  the  product  is  a  trained  learner, 
not  a  production  product,  though,  as  a  "  by-product "  to 
the  instructing  job  we  almost  always  get  a  production  prod- 
uct of  some  kind  in  all  shop  job  instruction. 

The  Function  of  the  Foiir  Operations. — Stated  briefly 
each  of  these  four  operations  has  its  special  purpose,  or 
function,  as  follows:  The  function,  or  purpose  of  step  1, 
(Preparation)  is  to  get  the  mind  of  the  learner  concentrated 
on  what  is  to  be  put  over.  Step  2  (Presentation)  is  the 
operation  where  the  instruction  in  the  teaching  unit  is 
actually  given.  Step  3  is  for  the  purpose  of  "  back  check- 
ing," to  pick  up  any  points  that  the  learner  may  not  have 
entirely  got  in  step  2.  Step  4  is  an  inspecting  step  in  which 
the  purpose  is  to  test  out  the  learner  and  make  sure  that 
he  has  got  the  lesson  completely. 

Since  a  full  understanding  of  the  functions  of  these  four 
steps  is  essential  to  effective  instruction  they  are  taken  up 
in  detail  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Step  I.  Preparation. — ^As  just  stated  the  purpose  of  an 
instructor  in  this  step  is,  in  some  way  to  concentrate  the 
mind  of  the  learner  on  the  lesson.  The  idea  is  to  get  him 
to  thinking  about  what  he  is  to  be  taught,  and  about  nothing 
else.  The  function  of  this  step  is  so  well  shown  in  the  car- 
toon given  below  that  but  little  further  explanation  is 
required.    The  two  "opened  heads"  show  plainly  the  "before 


«m 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HLS  JOB 


and  after"  effects  of  a  well  carried  out  step  1  on  the  head 

of  a  learner  in  connection  with  an  instructing  job  on  riveting. 

This  concentrated  state  of  mind  is  brought  about  by  the 

instructor  bj  getting  the  learner  to  think  about  some  thing 


BEFORE—  MIMD  HflT  ON  cKB  II     AFTEfi—  MIMD  OH  job 


The  results  of  doing  a  good  job  in  step  1.     (Prom  "The  Training  of 
Shipyard  Woricers,"  U.  S.  S.  B.  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation.) 

that  has  something  to  do  with  the  teaching  unit  for  that 
particular  instructing  job.  As  in  the  picture,  at  the  start, 
the  learner  has  in  his  mind  all  sorts  of  recollections  of  past 
experiences  and  things  that  he  has  seen  and  heard  most  of 
which  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject  of  the  lesson  in 
hand,  but,  except  in  very  rare  cases,  he  has,  among  those 
recollections,  some  which  have  a  bearing  on  the  subject  of 
the  lesson.  By  skillful  preparation  the  instructor  there- 
fore, in  some  way,  makes  the  learner  think  about  certain 
particular  things  which  will  aid  him  in  comprehending  the 
particular  new  thing  which  is  to  be  taught.     This  may  be 


THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 


4n% 


called  a  process  whereby  the  learner  is  led  to  establish  in  his 
own  mind  "  contact  points  "  between  what  he  already  knows 
and  the  new  ideas  which  the  instructor  plans  to  have  him 
add  to  what  he  knows  through  the  lesson  that  is  to  be  taught. 
The  Teaching  Base.— It  will  be  noted  that,  in  carrying 
out  this  first  step,  it  is  assumed  that,  somewhere  is  his  past 
experience,  the  learner  has  had  some  kind  of  an  experience  or 
has  some  knowledge  which  can  be  used  as  a  foundation  for 
building  up  the  proposed  lesson.     It  should  also  be  clear 
that,  while  the  instructor  knows,  in  a  general  way,  what  he 
can  get  from  the  learner,  and  selects  those  ideas  which  he 
thinks  that  he  can  best  use  for  a  teaching  base,  the  learner 
is  himself  usually  unconscious  of  the  relation  of  what  he 
finds  himself  thinking  about,  to  the  subject  of  the  lesson 
which  the  instructor  has  planned  to  teach. 

Preparatian  Must  be  Completed  Before  Presentation  is 
Started.— The  success  of  the  following  steps  in  the  lesson  is 
dependent  on  this  first  step  being  thoroughly  carried  out, 
and  the  instructor  must  be  sure  that  this  is  the  case  before 
proceeding  farther.  One  of  the  most  common  errors  in 
instructing  is  the  f aHure  to  thoroughly  prepare  the  learner 
for  the  teaching  unit  to  be  put  over  in  Step  2  (Presentation) , 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  instructor  is  in  too  much  of  a  hurry ; 
he  "  skimps  "  this  step.  As  a  result  Step  2  fails,  this  comes 
out  in  Step  3,  and  the  whole  instructing  job  has  to  be  done 
over  again.    It  pays  to  make  a  good  job  of  Step  1. 

No  Standard  rule  can  be  given  for  determining  when 
learners  are  prepared.  An  experienced  instructor  can  tell — 
an  inexperienced  one  had  best  err,  if  at  all,  on  the  safe 
side  and,  if  anything,  over-prepare. 

The  Learner  Learns  Nothing  in  Step  1.— It  should  be 
clearly  understood  that,  in  the  work  of  preparation  as  com- 
monly carried  out,  no  new  ideas  are  added  to  those  already 
in  the  learner's  mind,  and  in  no  case  are  any  of  the  new  ideas 
which  are  to  be  taught  in  the  lesson  touched  upon  at  this 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

stage.  The  instructor  does  not  undertake  to  add  any  new 
ideas  to  those  already  in  the  learner's  mind.  He  does  (often 
by  skiUful  questioning)  lead  the  learner  to  select  from  all  the 
ideas  in  his  mind  certain  particular  ideas  which  he  has  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  "picked  up"  at  some  previous 
time.  These  ideas  are  those  which  the  instructor  has  deter- 
mined to  make  the  teaching  basis  of  the  lesson  in  hand. 

Exceptional  Instances.— In  rare  instances  when  there  is 
absolutely  nothing  that  can  be  used  as  a  teaching  base  the 
instructor  must  provide  something  that  can  be  used  for  that 
purpose.  Experience  has  shown  that  this  is  rarely  neces- 
sary in  shop  training,  especially  if  the  instructor  is  experi- 
enced and  ingenious.  When  a  teaching  base  cannot  be  found 
the  learner  must  be  given  an  experience  which  can  be  used. 
Until  this  has  been  done  it  is  practically  useless  to  try  to 
teach  the  lesson.  Of  course,  when  an  instructor  is  forced 
to  do  this  additional  time  and  energy  are  consumed  and  so  he 
never  does  it  unless  he  has  to. 

Step  2.  Presentation.— Just  as  step  1  is  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  the  learner  ready  to  "  take  "  the  lesson,  so  this 
step  is  the  one  in  which  the  lesson  is  put  over  by  the  instruc- 
tor. It  is  during  this  step  or  instructing  operation  that  the 
instructor  is  supposed  to  impart  to  the  learner  the  skill  on 
the  job,  the  knowledge  that  he  must  apply  in  doing  the  job, 
and  the  ability  to  apply  that  knowledge.  In  other  words  the 
learner  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  da  the  job  at  the  end  of 
this  instructing  operation. 

If  step  1  has  been  properly  carried  out  the  learner  now 
has  his  attention  concentrated  on  what  is  to  be  put  over, 
he  is  interested  and  wants  to  learn  and  he  is  clear  as  to 
what  the  lesson  is  about.  Assuming  that  all  this  has  been 
done,  the  next  step  is  to  put  over  the  "  new  stuff  "  that  is 
contained  in  the  teaching  unit.  Various  ways  for  doing  this 
are  given  later,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  point  out  here 
that  a  method  that  is  the  most  suitable  to  the  particular 
lesson  that  is  to  be  taught  must  be  used  in  each  case.     For 


THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 


4S1 


example,  if  one  purpose  of  the  lesson  was  to  turn  out  a  man 
that  would  think  intelligently  on  the  job,  it  is  evident  that 
different  means  would  have  to  be  employed  from  those  that 
might  be  used  if  the  purpose  were  only  to  get  a  man  so  that 
he  could  perform  certain  operations  in  one  way  only. 

A  skillful  instructor  will  always  know  what  particular 
ways  of  handling  this  operation  will  give  the  best  and  the 
quickest  results  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  special 
job  that  is  to  be  taught.  This  question  of  ways  and  means 
for  putting  over  this  step  is  taken  up  in  the  next  section, 
under  methods  of  instruction  and  so  this  matter  is  not  taken 
up  any  further  here. 

The  distinction  between  the  purposes  of  steps  1  and  2 
must  be  clearly  understood  however,  because  any  "  mixing  " 
of  the  two  operations  will  always  make  trouble.  As  already 
stated,  step  1  (preparation)  does  not  add  anything  to  the 
learners  knowledge  or  skill  on,  the  job  that  is  to  be  taught, 
but  merely  gets  him  ready  to  he  taught  by  getting  him  to 
thinking  exclusively  about  certain  things  which  the  instruc- 
tor has  already  determined  to  use  for  the  teaching  base 
( J.  O.  P.).  Step  2,  on  the  other  hand,  has  for  its  only  pur- 
pose the  imparting  (putting  over)  of  the  necessary  job 
knowledge  and  skill  and  the  ability  to  use  that  knowledge 
and  skill  in  doing  the  job  according  to  the  requirements  of 
the  department  as  to  accuracy,  speed,  etc.  At  the  close  of 
step  1  the  learner  knows  no  more  about  the  job  that  is  to 
be  taught  than  he  did  before.  At  the  close  of  step  2  he  is 
supposed  to  be  able  to  do  it,  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
usually  cannot  do  it  just  right,  which  is  the  reason  why  step 
3  is  necessary,  as  is  explained  later. 

At  this  stage  of  the  process  there  is,  at  the  close  of  step 
2,  no  evidence  that  the  learner  can  fully  apply  what  has 
been  put  over ;  that  is,  that  he  has  "  got "  the  whole  lesson. 
In  fact,  as  just  stated,  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that  he 
has  not ;  that  there  are  some  weak  points  where  the  instruc- 
tion has  wholly  or  partly  failed  to  "  carry."    If  the  instruc- 

81 


48f 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


ting  operation  were  left  at  this  stage  (which  many  men  who 
have  instructing  responsibilities  do)  it  would  mean  that  the 
instructor  would  never  know  whether  he  had  or  had  not 
done  an  effective  instructing  job  nor  would  he  know  whether 
the  learner  could  or  could  not  do  the  job  that  was  to  be 
taught  without  any  help.  In  other  words,  if  the  instructor 
stopped  the  instruction  process  at  this  point  he  would  not 
know  whether  the  learner,  if  left  to  go  it  alone,  could  or 
could  not  do  the  job.  The  two  remaining  steps  in  the 
instructing  process  are  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
instructor  to  be  sure  that  he  has  done  a  complete  100  per 
cent,  instructing  job,  and  to  give  the  learner  sufficient  confi- 
dence to  go  it  alone,  for  a  green  learner  may  be  able,  as 
the  result  of  good  instruction,  to  do  a  job  in  first-class  shape 
and  yet  fall  down  on  it  the  first  time  that  he  is  left  "  on 
his  own.'* 

Step  3.  Application. — ^As  already  briefly  stated  this  step 
serves  three  purposes. 

(1).  Since  what  the  man  has  learned  is  of  no  value  to 
him  unless  he  can  apply  it,  and  since  power  to  apply  a  thing 
is  different  from  simply  knowing  it,  he  must  be  trained  in 
actually  applying,  or  putting  into  practice  what  was  pre- 
sented to  him  in  the  preceding  step  of  the  lesson. 

(2).  A  second,  and  equally  important,  purpose  to  be 
accomplished  by  this  step  is  to  check  up  the  degree  to  which 
the  learner  has  grasped  all  the  points  in  the  lesson  which 
has  been  taught,  whether  processes  or  ideas.  From  this 
standpoint  this  step,  application,  corresponds  to  a  road  bed 
inspection  on  a  railroad  whose  purpose  is  to  detect  "  bad 
spots  "  which  should  be  fixed.  In  the  same  way,  no  matter 
how  carefully  the  man  has  been  taught,  there  will  be  some 
"  weak  points,"  some  '*  holes  in  the  road  "  which  must  be 
located  and  made  good  before  going  any  further.  A  common 
illustration  of  this  would  be  an  arithmetic  lesson  on  interest 
at  6  per  cent.  After  the  teacher  has  presented  the  method 
of  doing  it,  he  will  then  have  the  pupil  solve  a  series  of  prob- 


THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 


488 


X 


lems  in  interest  at  6  per  cent.  If  the  lesson  were  on  figu- 
ring the  offset  for  a  taper,  the  learner  would  then  be  given  a 
series  of  problems  in  figuring  offsets.  If  the  teaching  unit 
were  on  how  to  correctly  mark  templates,  the  learner  would 
be  given  a  template  to  mark.  If  it  were  on  assembling,  the 
man  would  be  given  an  assembling  job.  During  this  process 
of  application,  however,  the  instructor  watches  the  man  while 
he  is  working  at  the  job,  notes  where  he  fails  to  grasp  some 
points  in  the  problem,  or  has  not  "caught  on"  to  some 
part  of  an  operation,  and  gives  him  additional  instruction 
on  that  part  then  and  there. 

(3).  When  this  step  has  been  properly  carried  out  the 
learner  has  acquired  enough  confidence  to  be  able  to  go 
ahead  and  do  the  job  when  he  is  left  to  go  it  alone. 

The  instructor  therefore  uses  this  step  not  only  to  give 
the  learner  training  in  applying,  but  also  to  find  weak  points 
in  his  work  in  step  2  as  to  the  learners  knowledge  or  compre- 
hension, confidence  or  job  ability.  At  the  close  of  this  step 
the  instructor  should  be  sure  that  the  man  has  thoroughly 
"  got  "  the  lesson  which  is  to  be  taught.  Carrying  out  this 
step  effectively  requires  care  and  skill  on  the  part  of  the 
instructor  to  determine  just  when  to  assist  the  learner  and 
just  how  to  assist  him ;  but  in  no  case  should  the  instructor 
do  the  work  for  the  man.  Of  course  he  might  show  him  how 
to  cover  some  particular  operating  point  correctly,  which  it 
might  appear  that  he  did  not  fully  understand,  but  the 
learner  should  be  required  in  this  step  to  go  through  the 
whole  job  and  to  go  through  it  a  sufficient  number  of  times 
so  that  the  instructor  is  reasonably  sure  that  all  points 
have  been  mastered.  Various  methods  can  be  followed  in 
this  step  which  are  discussed  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

How  to  Know  When  Step  3  is  Completed.— In  this  the 
instructor  must  depend  upon  his  judgment  and  experience. 
No  set  rule  can  be  given.  Whatever  the  method  used,  this 
operation  is  continued  until  the  instructor  is  satisfied  that 
the  teaching  unit  has  been  completely  put  over.     Wherever 


484 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


he  finds  a  weak  spot  the  instructor  goes  over  that  part  of 
the  preceding  step  which  covers  that  particular  part  of  the 
teaching  unit,  in  this  way  filling  up  the  gaps.  However  that 
may  be,  he  finally  comes  to  a  point  where  he  is  willing  to  take 
a  chance  that  the  man  has  "  got "  the  thing  that  was 
to  be  taught. 

This  step  may  be  compared  to  trying  out  an  assembled 
machine,  where  the  machine  is  run  under  careful  observation. 
Any  imperfections  are  noted,  and  faulty  parts  replaced  until 
the  adjuster  is  ready  to  O.  K.  it,  that  is,  he  is  ready  to  take 
a  chance  on  its  being  right.  Instructors  are  very  liable  to  be 
in  too  much  of  a  hurry  in  carrying  out  this  step  and  to  let 
a  man  go  onto  the  final  step,  or  test,  before  he  is  ready  for 
it.  The  adjuster  who  lets  imperfect  machines  go  out  of  his 
department  has  done  a  poor  job  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
the  instructor  who  lets  the  learner  out  of  this  stage,  before 
he  is  ready. 

Step  4.  Inspection  or  Testing. — ^If  the  instructional 
process  has  been  properly  carried  on  up  to  this  point  the 
instructor  is  ready  to  take  a  chance  that  the  learner  has 
been  properly  taught,  and  if  he  is  right  the  teaching  job  is 
finished,  the  learner  is  instructed,  he  can  do  what  the  instruc- 
tor intended  that  he  should  be  able  to  do  or  he  knows  what 
the  instructor  intended  that  he  should  know.  The  teaching 
unit  has  been  put  over  and  the  teaching  process  is  at  an 
end.  But  while  the  instructor  may  feel  sure  that  this  is  the 
case  he  does  not  know  it  because  this  fact  cannot  be  assumed. 
During  the  preceding  step  he  undoubtedly  found  many  cases 
where  additional  instruction  on  some  parts  of  the  lesson  was 
necessary,  and  he  therefore  has  assisted  or  directed  the  man 
more  or  less  during  that  step.  Although  he  carried  on  this 
phase  of  the  instruction  process  until,  in  his  judgment,  the 
man  had  got  the  entire  unit  that  was  to  be  taught,  neverthe- 
less he  has  been  going  over  it  piecemeal,  and  not  as  a  whole. 

He  cannot,  therefore,  assume  that,  unaided  and  undi- 
rected, the  man  who  is  under  inspection  can  apply  intel- 


THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS 


485 


ligently  the  subject  of  the  teaching  unit.  That  unaided,  and 
absolutely  on  his  own  feet  he  can  go  through  the  whole 
process  correctly. 

This  step,  therefore,  may  be  regarded  as  fulfilling  a 
function  strictly  comparable  to  that  of  final  inspection.  The 
instructor  must  now  stop  being  as  an  instructor  and,  becom- 
ing an  inspector,  proceed  to  inspect  the  results  of  his  teach- 
ing by  testing  in  some  suitable  way,  the  ability  of  the  learner 
to  do  the  entire  job  alone. 

As  already  stated  the  purpose  of  this  step  is  to  afford 
an  opportunity  for  a  final  tryout  or  inspection.  The  instruc- 
tor should  regard  the  result  of  the  test  as  more  or  less  a 
failure  if  the  learner  fails  to  do  this  work  unaided.  It  indi- 
cates that  the  teaching  process  was  not  well  carried  out,  that 
the  instructor's  judgment  was  incorrect  and  the  teaching 
must  be  repeated.  While  this  will  often  occur  in  practice, 
it  is  nevertheless  true  in  theory  that  if  the  lessons  were  per- 
fectly planned  and  perfectly  taught  inspection  would  show 
that  all  learners  could  successfully  meet  the  test  with  100 
per  cent,  efficiency. 


CHAPTER  XXVIH 
THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  "  TOOLS  " 

METHODS  AND  LINES  OF  APPEOACH 

Preliminary.— The  last  chapter  took  up  the  question  of 
the  four  operations  or  steps  in  the  instructing  process  and 
pointed  out  the  purpose,  or  function  of  each  step.  Mention 
was  made  there  of  the  fact  that  there  were  different  ways 
of  performing  each  of  these  steps  and  of  carrying  out  the 
instructing  process  as  a  whole.  This  chapter  takes  up  these 
points  so  far  as  they  may  affect  the  work  of  a  foreman 
as  an  instructor. 

The  Instructing  "Tools."— The  various  "instructing 
tools  "  or  devices  which  instructors  use  in  putting  over  the 
instructing  process  are  of  two  kinds : 

1.  Methods  of  ini>»  ruction. 

2.  Lines  of  approach. 

A  good  instructor  will  select  for  any  given  instructing 
job  (lesson)  the  line  of  approach  and  the  method  of  instruc- 
tion that  will,  in  his  judgment,  give  the  best  results  with  the 
particular  sort  of  learner  and  the  special  sort  of  lesson. 
For  example,  if  he  were  giving  some  incidental  instruction 
to  an  experienced  man  on  some  detail  slightly  different  of 
an  old  job  he  would  use  a  different  method  and  line  of 
approach  from  what  he  would  if  he  were  instructing  a  green 
man  on  an  entirely  new  job.  These  different  methods  and 
lines  of  approach  are  to  the  instructor  just  what  a  kit  of 
tools  are  to  a  mechanic.  Just  as  a  good  mechanic  will  size 
up  a  job  and  determine  just  what  tools  will  give  him  the 
best  results  on  that  job,  so  a  good  instructor  will  size  up  his 
instructing  job  and  will  pick  out  for  use  the  methods  of 
instruction  and  line  of  approach  that  will  give  him  the  best 

486 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  "TOOLS" 


487 


results  on  his  instructing  job.    Hence  the  term,  "  the  instruc- 
tor's tools." 

The  Instructor's  "  Tools  " :  Lines  of  Approach.— What- 
ever methods  may  be  used  in  putting  over  an  instructing 
unit  (a  lesson),  the  first  thing  that  an  instructor  considers 
is  his  line  of  approach.  This  is  what  may  be  called  his 
"  policy  "  in  handling  the  whole  lesson.  There  are  two  such 
policies  or  lines  of  approach  that  will  be  of  use  to  a  fore- 
man in  carrying  out  any  instructing  jobs  that  he  may  have. 
These  two  lines  of  approach  are  called : 

1.  The  development  line  of  approach. 

2.  The  informational  line  of  approach. 

An  instructor  uses  one  or  the  other  according  to  what  he 
wants  to  have  the  learner  get  out  of  the  lesson.  Since  a 
clear  understanding  of  these  two  lines  of  approach  is  very 
necessary  for  anyone  having  to  handle  instructing  jobs  they 
are  explained  quite  fully  below. 

The  Informational  Line  of  Approach. — ^In  using  this 
line  of  approach  the  whole  instructing  process  is  carried 
through  on  the  basis  of  the  instructor  giving  information 
to  the  learner  or  the  learner  giving  information  to  the 
instructor.  All  that  is  asked  of  the  learner  is  memory.  Any 
questions  that  a  learner  is  asked  he  can  answer  simply  by 
recollecting.  He  does  not  have  to  "think  anything  out." 
The  instructor  may  ask  all  sorts  of  questions  of  the  learner 
but  all  they  are  intended  to  make  him  do  is  to  remember. 

The  entire  lesson  or  any  step  in  the  lesson  can  be  handled 
in  this  way  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  instructor, 
but,  as  pointed  out  later,  as  a  rule,  it  is  not  good  "  business  " 
to  change  the  line  of  approach  in  the  course  of  putting  over 
the  same  teaching  job;  that  is  like  "  swapping  horses  in  the 
middle  of  the  stream,"  it  can  be  done,  but  under  most  con- 
ditions it  is  not  the  best  place  to  make  a  horse  trade. 

The  Development  Line  of  Approach. — ^In  handling  a 
lesson  by  this  line  of  approach  the  intention  of  the  instruc- 
tor 18  always  to  make  the  learner  think  out  the  proper  pro- 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

cedure,  or  the  reason  why  a  certain  operation  is  carried  on  in 
a  certain  way,  or,  in  some  other  way  think  the  thing  through. 
In  other  words,  when  this  line  of  approach  is  used,  the 
instructor  makes  the  learner  do  as  much  of  the  thinking  as 
possible  and  does  as  little  thinking  for  the  learner  as  possi- 
ble. In  doing  this  the  instructor  leads  the  learner  to  think 
out  the  problem  and  the  method  of  solution,  guides  his  think- 
ing by  the  use  of  thought  stimulating  questions  or  sugges- 
tions, but  practically  never  tells  the  learner  anything  that 
he  can  think  out  for  himself.  According  to  this  line  of 
approach,  questions  asked  by  the  instructor  are  so  framed 
that  the  learner  cannot  answer  them  just  from  memory,  but 
must  think  out  the  answers.  In  this  way,  with  the  help 
of  the  right  kind  of  questions  a  learner  can  be  made  to  think 
through  to  a  correct  method  of  solving  a  problem  or  of  carry- 
ing through  an  operation. 

The  Purpose  of  the  Two*  Lines  of  Approach.— It  is  evi- 
dent from  the  description  of  the  two  lines  of  approach  just 
given  that  the  purpose  of  the  development  line  of  approach 
is  to  make  the  learner  think  about  the  job  in  order  that  he 
may  be  intelligent  in  doing  the  job.  He  will  "  use  his  head  on 
the  job  "  if  this  line  of  approach  is  used  in  instructing  him. 
It  must  be  equally  evident  that  the  purpose  of  the  informa- 
tional line  of  approach  is  to  inform  the  learner  as  quickly 
as  possible  just  how  a  job  should  be  done,  or  as  to  the  cor- 
rect method  of  solving  a  problem.  The  aim  of  an  instructor 
using  the  development  line  of  approach  would  be  to  turn  out 
a  learner  who  could  do  a  job  that  required  some  judgment 
and  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  worker.  The  aim  of  an 
instructor  using  the  informational  line  of  approach  would  be 
to  turn  out  a  learner  who  could  do  a  job  correctly  but  where 
the  job  did  not  require  a  worker  to  use  very  much  intelligence 
of  a  general  character,  and  where  there  was  little  or  no 
opportunity  to  use  judgment  in  carrying  out  the  work. 

Line  of  Approach  and  Methods.— The  distinction  between 
lines  of  approach  and  methods  of  instruction  must  be  kept 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  "TOOLS 


»» 


clearly  in  mind.  As  already  stated,  the  line  of  approach 
always  refers  to  the  general  purpose  that  the  instructor  has 
in  mind  as  between  straight  job  ability  and  job  ability  plus 
intelligence.  Methods  of  instruction  do  not  refer  to  lines  of 
approach  at  all,  but  to  the  special  instructing  devices  used 
in  putting  over  the  different  steps  in. the  instructing  job,  as 
taken  up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

The  Instructor's  "Tools":  Methods  of  Instruction.— 
If  the  first  sort  of  instructing  tools  are  the  lines  of  approach, 
the  second  set  of  tools  are  the  methods  of  instruction  used 
in  the  different  steps  in  the  instructing  job.  As  already  sug- 
gested, these  different  methods  are,  to  an  instructor  what 
various  sets  of  tools  are  to  a  mechanic.  Just  as  a  mechanic 
will  size  up  a  job,  or  better,  for  illustration  here,  some  opera- 
tion on  a  job,  and  will  select  the  special  tool  that  will  work 
best  under  those  conditions  so  a  good  instructor  will  size 
up  the  particular  instructing  operation  that  he  has  to  put 
over  and  will  determine  what  method  of  instruction  will  be 
the  best  to  use  in  that  particular  step. 

The  Different  Methods  of  Instruction. — ^Teachers  who 
have  to  teach  all  sorts  of  lessons  under  all  sorts  of  conditions 
make  use  of  quite  a  nmnber  of  different  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, but,  of  these,  only  a  few  will  be  of  service  to  a  foreman 
under  the  conditions  under  which  he  discharges  any  instruct- 
ing responsibilities  that  he  may  have.*  For  convenience 
these  are  given  in  the  table  below  and  are  described  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

The  following  paragraphs  take  up  these  different  meth- 
ods of  instruction  as  they  would  apply  to  the  instructing 
job  of  a  foreman. 

STEP  I.  A.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  LINE  OP  APPROACH 

Methods  of  Instruction:  Step  1. — ^The  suggestive  ques- 

•  The  foreman  who  is  interested  in  going  further  into  this  matter  of 
methods  of  instruction  will  find  the  list  of  practically  all  the  methods 
that  are  of  use  in  industrial  instruction  in  Chapters  XXIII  to  XXVII 
of  "The  Instructor,  The  Man  and  The  Job." 


490 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


POSSIBLE  METHODS  OF   INSTRUCTION   FOR  THE 
DIFFERENT  STEPS  IN  THE  INSTRUCTING  PROCESS. 


Steps  in  the  Process. 


Lines  of  Approach. 


Development. 


Informational. 


Step  1. 
Preparation. 
Foundation. 


Step  2. 

Presentation. 

Putting   over  the 

Teaching  Unit. 


Step  3. 
Application. 
Checking  up. 

Step  4. 

Insi)ection. 

Final  test. 


The  suggestive  ques- 
tion. 

Demonstration  with 
suggestive  ques- 
tions. 


Demonstration. 


The  informational 
question. 

Informational  dem- 
onstration. 


Demonstration. 


(With    suggestive     (Plain  showing.) 
questions.)  (Learner  passive.) 

Demonstration  with 


(Learner  active.) 
Illustration. 


On  the  job. 


questions. 
Illustration. 
Lecture. 


On  the  job. 


On  the  job. 


tion  and  the  suggestive  demonstration  are  the  two  methods 
of  instruction  that  a  foreman  will  find  the  most  useful  when 
he  uses  the  development  line  of  approach  in  carrying  out 
step  1.    They  are  therefore  described  here. 

The  Suggestive  Question.— As  already  mentioned  ques- 
tions may  be  so  framed  as  to  make  the  learner  think,  and, 
in  addition,  they  may  be  so  formulated  that  the  learner 
imconsciously  thinks  of  something  that  the  instructor  intends 
that  he  shall  think  of.  If  the  instructor  is  skillful  in  this 
way  he  can  almost  always  make  the  learner  think  of  what  he 
wants  him  to  think  about,  so  long  as  the  learner  is  not  aware 
of  the  fact  that  his  thinking  is  being  directed  in  a  particular 


=     MC 


f 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  "TOOLS" 


491 


direction.    If  he  does  become  aware  of  the  fact,  the  scheme 
will  stop  working.     Where  such  questions  are  used  they  are 
based  on  what  is  called  suggestion.  Suggestion  merely  means 
the  well-known  fact  that  anybody  can  prove  for  themselves, 
that  if  Smith  says  something  to  Jones;  Jones  in  turn  will  do 
some  kind  of  thinking.  If  Smith  is  skiUful  in  what  he  says  he 
can  ahnost  always  make  Jones  think  of  things  that  he  (  Smith) 
wants  Jones  to  think  of.    For  example,  if  Smith  says  "Jones, 
I  just  saw  a  cow,"  a  picture  of  a  cow  will  flash  up  in  Jones' 
mind,  if  Jones  has  ever  seen  a  cow.    If  Jones  has  never  seen 
a  cow  Smith  is  "  out  of  luck  "  and  draws  a  blank  so  far  as 
suggestion  goes.     Now  if  the  questions  are  so  worded  as  to 
"  start "  not  merely  a  "  mind  picture  "  but  a  line  of  thought, 
and  that  line  of  thought  is  kept  going  by  further  questions 
asked  at  the  right  time  as  "  boosters,"  an  instructor  can  make 
a  learner  think  along  to  the  point  at  which  the  instructor 
wants  to  arrive  in  his  thinking.    In  such  a  case  the  questions 
do  not  merely  call  for  remembering  but  force  thinking.     An 
example  of  such  a  question  would  be,  "  How  do  you  think 
such  and  such  a  thing  was  done? "  or  "  Why  do  you  thmk 
it  was  done  that  way.?  "    Questions  of  this  sort  that  suggest 
lines  of  thought  are  the  sort  of  suggestive  questions  that 
would  be  used  with  the  development  line  of  approach.     Evi- 
dently this  sort  of  question  can  only  be  used  when  the  instruc- 
tor knows  that  the  learner  has  something  to  think  about,  that 
is,  he  knows  something  about  the  thing  on  which  the  ques- 

tirvTis  bear 

The  Suggestive  Demonstration. — ^When  the  learner  has 

nothing  that  the  instructor  can  use  for  the  work  of  step  1, 
that  is,  where  the  learner  "  has  never  seen  a  cow,"  it  is  evi- 
dently necessary  to  "show  him  a  cow,"  that  is,  for  the  instruc- 
tor to  show  him  something  or  do  something  that  will  give 
something  to  go  on.  For  example,  suppose  the  case  of  a 
perfectly  green  learner,  who  had  never  heard  of  a  plane  and 
no  idea  how  it  worked,  and  that  the  instructing  job  was  to 
instruct  him  in  the  job  of  setting  a  plane.  This,  of  course, 
is  a  very  improbable  supposition,  but  it  wiU  do  for  the  lUus- 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 

tration.  Under  these  conditions  the  instructor  might  find  it 
necessary  to  show  the  learner  a  plane  that  was  set  right 
and  one  that  was  not  set,  and  by  some  suggestive  questions 
get  the  learner  to  see  that  the  plane  could  be  set  by  some- 
body who  knew  how,  and  so  get  his  mind  onto  the  teaching 
unit  and  his  interest  or  curiosity  aroused.  Where  this  was 
done  the  instructor  would  have  used  a  suggestive  demonstra- 
tion as  a  method  of  instruction. 

As  a  rule  in  shop  instruction  the  suggestive  demonstra- 
tion is  not  required.  There  are  very  few  cases  where  the 
learner  has  not  had  some  sort  of  an  experience  that  the 
instructor  cannot  use  for  his  purpose.  Since  it  takes  more 
time  and  makes  more  trouble  it  is  only  customary  to  use  it 
when  absolutely  necessary,  although,  of  course,  it  can  be 
used  as  a  "  breaker  in  "  in  any  case  in  putting  over  step  1. 

STEP  I.       B.       THE  INFOEMATIONAL  LINE  OF   APPEOACH 

Methods  Of  Instruction:  Step  i.— As  the  last  paragraph 
took  up  the  possible  instructional  methods  for  step  1  when 
the  development  line  of  approach  is  used,  so  this  paragraph 
takes  up  the  corresponding  methods  that  may  be  used  when 
the  instructor  prefers  to  use  the  informational  line  of 
approach.  As  given  in  the  table,  these  are  the  informational 
question  and  the  informational  demonstration. 

The  Informational  Question.— Another  kind  of  question 
from  the  suggestive  question  gets  its  "  action  "  not  through 
suggestion  but  through  pure  memory.     For  example,  going 
back  to  the  same  illustration  as  was  used  before,  suppose 
Smith  holds  up  a  tool  in  front  of  Jones  and  says,  "  What 
IS  the  name  of  this?  "  and  Jones  comes  back  with,  "  That's 
a  monkey  wrench,''  all  that  Smith  has  asked  of  Jones  is 
memory.     Jones  did  not  have  to  do  any  thinking,  he  only 
had  to  remember.    He  either  did  remember  or  else  he  didn't. 
Now  the  process  of  remembering  will  also  arouse  interest 
and  center  the  mind  on  what  is  remembered.    The  same  result 
can  be  obtained  by  asking  a  person  what  they  know  about 
something;  the  act  of  trying  to  remember  what  they  know 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  'TOOLS'* 


408 


will  tend  to  fix  their  attention  on  what  they  are  asked  to  talk 
about.    For  example,  an  instructor,  in  carrymg  out  step  1 
on  a  lesson  on  the  use  of  a  crosscut  saw  with  a  learner  who 
knew  something  about  rip  saws,  might  ask  the  learner  to 
tell  what  he  knew  about  a  rip  saw,  not  caring  very  much 
what  he  told,  so  long  as  he  told  something.    There  would  be 
no  suggestion  here,  the  learner  would  simply  be  asked  to 
give  some  information  that  the  instructor  knew  he  possessed. 
All  that  the  instructor  wanted  was  to  make  him  go  through 
a  remembering  process  so  as  to  center  his  mind  on  a  saw,  the 
lesson  to  he  put  over  dealing  with  the  points  where  a  rip 
saw  and  a  crosscut  saw  differ  iri  the  way  that  they  are  used 
on  the  job.     Such  questions  as  those  suggested  here,  whose 
purpose  is  merely  to  make  a  learner  recall  something  that 
the  instructor  already  knows   that  he  knows,   and  whose 
answer  calls  for  no  thinking  but  just  for  recollecting  may 
be  called  informational  questions  to  distinguish  them  from 
suggestive  questions  as  already  described. 

The  Informational  Demonstration.— Under  the  same 
conditions  as  have  been  described  for  the  development  demon- 
stration, that  is,  where  there  is  "  nothing  doing  "  so  far  as 
the  use  of  informational  questions  is  concerned,  it  is  possible 
for  the  instructor  to  furnish  some  information  by  either  tell- 
ing something  or  by  showing  something.  For  example,  he  can 
tell  an  experience  that  he  has  had  that  bears  on  the  subject 
of  the  lesson,  or  he  can  do  the  job  himself  while  the  learner 
watches  him,  not  with  the  idea  of  teaching  the  learner  any- 
thing at  this  stage  of  the  game,  but  simply  to  give  him  a 
notion  as  to  what  is  to  be  taught  him  in  the  lesson. 

As  an  example  of  the  difference  between  the  two  sorts 
of  demonstrations,  in  the  case  of  the  crosscut  saw  used  as 
an  illustration,  if  the  instructor,  were  to  show  both  kinds 
of  saws,  and  say  to  the  learner,  referring  to  the  crosscut 
«  Would  this  saw  be  good  to  use  for  cutting  with  the  grain? 
Why?"  he  would  be  using  a  development  question  in  connec- 
tion with  his  demonstration,  but  if  he  showed  the  crosscut 


404 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  fflS  JOB 


saw  alone  and  said  "  Is  this  a  rip  saw?"  he  would  be  using  an 
informational  question  in  connection  with  his  demonstration. 

STEP  2.  A.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  LINE  OF  APPROACH 

Methods:  Step  2. — ^In  using  this  line  of  approach  the 
methods  that  a  foreman  will  find  most  serviceable  for  handling 
step  2  of  an  instructing  job  are  the  demonstration  with 
suggestive  questions   and   the   illustration,   handled   in   the 


same  manner. 


The  Demonstration. — The  demonstration  method  con- 
sists essentially  in  either  showing  the  learner  how  the  job  is 
done  with  the  real  tools,  stock,  etc.,  just  as  he  will  have  to  do 
it  when  he  is  out  in  the  shop  "  on  his  own,"  after  he  has 
been  instructed,  or  in  making  the  learner  do  the  job  himself 
under  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  instructor.  Put- 
ting him  onto  the  job,  giving  him  a  few  general  directions, 
going  off  and  leaving  him  for  an  hour  to  fend  for  himself  or 
pump  what  he  can  from  other  workers  is  not  carrying  out 
this  method.  As  an  example  of  the  use  of  this  method  an 
instructor  in  printing  may  operate  the  press  in  instructing  a 
learner  in  feeding.  In  doing  this,  if  he  were  using  the  demon- 
stration method  he  would  use  a  real  job.  After  feeding  a 
little  while  he  might  let  the  learner  try  his  hand  at  it,  stand- 
ing by  to  prevent  any  slips  and  to  keep  the  learner  from 
getting  scared.  In  using  this  method  in  putting  over  a  lesson 
on  an  assembling  job  the  instructor  would  use  the  necessary 
parts,  bolts,  nuts,  wrenches,  etc.,  and  would  do  a  real  assembly 
job  or  would  have  the  learner  do  it  under  direction. 

It  is  evident  that  provided  a  real  job  is  done  the  demon- 
stration can  be  carried  on  either  by  the  learner,  or  by  the 
instructor,  or  by  both,  turn  about.  When  the  learner  does 
the  job  under  the  supervision  of  the  instructor,  he  is  his 
own  demonstrator.  He  demonstrates  to  himself.  That  is 
the  way  that  most  of  us  learned  the  job  of  falling  downstairs 
when  we  were  kids.  In  some  cases  a  learner  may  work  from 
printed  or  written  directions.  In  this  case  he  is  still  demon- 
strating to  himself. 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  "TOOLS" 


405 


The  Method  of  Illustration.— This  method  differs  from 
the  demonstration  essentially  m  that  instead  of  using  the 
real  thing  that  would  be  used  on  the  job  the  instructor  uses 
things  that  make  the  learner  see  the  real  things  in  his  mind. 
For  example,  every  time  that  a  man  reads  a  blue-print  what 
he  sees  with  Us  eyes  are  white  lines  on  blue  paper,  but  what 
he  sees  in  his  mind  are  the  real  things  that  those  white  lines 
represent.  Some  illustrations  may  make  this  point  clearer. 
For  example,  suppose  an  engineer  was  to  be  taught  how  to 
set  a  valve  by  a  method  with  which  he  was  not  familiar,  and 
the  instructor  instead  of  using  a  real  engine  used  a  wooden 
model,  or  used  diagrams.  In  such  a  case  he  would  be 
using  the  method  of  illustration  instead  of  the  method 
of  demonstration. 

This  method  is  used  every  day  in  shops  where,  in  talking 
over  a  job  with  a  workman,  the  foreman  will  make  a  sketch 
on  a  scrap  of  paper,  or  sometimes  with  pencil  or  chalk  on 

the  stock  itself. 

The  method  of  illustration  can  be  carried  out  by  models, 
pictures,  diagrams,  sketches,  etc.,  but  for  any  instructing 
work  that  a  foreman  may  have  to  do  probably  only  the  sketch 
and  the  diagram  would  be  used.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
a  sketch  is  made  whenever  marks  are  made  on  something,  no 
matter  what.  A  foreman  in  a  foundry  can  make  a  sketch  on 
the  floor  by  using  a  stick  and  making  marks  in  the  sand. 

The  Development  Demonstration  or  Illustration. — ^When 
used  in  connection  with  the  development  line  of  approach  the 
instructor  will  keep  the  learner  "  alive  "  by  questions  that 
will  keep  him  thinking  or  by  making  him  do  some  of  the 
work,  or  both.  For  example,  the  instructor  will  ask  the 
learner  "  What  do  you  think  that  I  ought  to  do  next?  "  or 
"  Why  do  you  think  that  that  operation  was  carried  out 
that  way.?"  or  "Could  it  have  been  carried  out  any  other 
way?"  As  a  definite  example  suppose  that  in  an  assembly 
job  the  instructor  was  teaching  the  learner  how  to  set  up  a 
nut,  and  when  it  comes  to  the  final  setting  up,  says  to  the 


wi 


496 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


learner  "  Do  you  think  that  this  nut  could  be  set  up  too 
hard?"  "  What  might  happen?"  "  Suppose  it  was  not  set 
up  hard  enough,  what  might  happen?  '%  and  so  on. 

As  already  stated  while  there  are  other  methods  that  can 
be  used  the  two  given  above  are  the  only  ones  that  are  likely 
to  be  of  service  to  a  foreman  in  any  instructing  work  that  he 
may  have  to  do  where  the  development  line  of  approach 
is  used. 

STEP  2.    B.  THE  INFORMATIONAL  LINE  OP  APPROACH 

The  Demonstration  Method.— Where  this  method  is  used 
with  the  informational  line  of  approach  the  instructor  makes 
the  demonstration  (does  the  job)  and  the  learner  watches 
him  do  it.  While  doing  the  job  the  instructor  may  or  may 
not  ask  questions  but  if  he  does  they  are  memory  questions 
such  as  "  What  did  I  do  last?"  "  What  did  I  tell  you  was 
the  name  of  this  tool?  ",  and  so  on. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  carrying  on  the  work  in  this  way, 
the  learner  is  practically  passive.  He  absorbs  but  does  not 
have  to  give  down  except  as  he  may  be  requested  to  furnish 
information.  He  has  to  use  memory  but  does  not  have  to 
think  in  the  way  that  he  would  have  to  under  the  other 
line  of  approach. 

The  Method  of  lUustration.— This  method  would  be  con- 
ducted in  the  same  way  using  sketches  or  diagrams  instead 
of  the  real  things. 

The  Lecture  Method.— This  method  of  presentation  con- 
sists in  simply  talking  about  the  job.  Telling  how  it  should 
be  done  without  either  demonstrating  or  illustrating  with  any 
sort  of  real  things.  Good  examples  of  straight  lectures  can 
often  be  heard  in  popular  lecture  courses.  For  example, 
when  some  one  tells  his  experiences  in  foreign  travel. 

Step  3.  Both  Lines  of  Approach.— While  other  methods 
are  known  and  are  commonly  employed  in  schools,  there  is 
only  one  method  for  a  foreman  to  use  in  this  step  and  that 
is  to  put  the  learner  on  the  job,  watching  him  and  checking 
him  up  if  he  starts  to  go  wrong.    According  to  the  line  of 


THE  INSTRUCTOR'S  'TOOLS' 


407 


approach  development  or  informational  questions  are  used 
as  necessary.  If,  for  example,  the  instructor  says  "  Hold 
on,  you  did  something  wrong,  then  find  out  what  it  was  and  fix 
it  before  you  go  any  further."  He  is  using  the  development 
line  of  approach.  If  he  says,  "  What  did  I  tell  you  to  be 
careful  about  at  this  point,"  he  is  using  the  informational 
line  of  approach.  As  already  stated  the  instructor  will  have 
the  learner  work  at  the  job  in  this  way  until  he  is  willing  to 
take  a  chance  that  the  learner  has  got  the  whole  job. 

STEP  4.    NO  LINES  OF  APPROACH 

Testing  On  the  Job. — ^This  is  the  last  step  in  which  the 
instructor  tests  or  inspects  his  own  product,  who  he  now 
assumes  to  be  competent  to  do  the  job  unaided  and  do  it 
right,  though  not  perhaps  at  full  commercial  speed  as  taken 
up  later.  He  therefore  has  the  learner  do  the  job  and 
inspects  the  product.  If  his  guess  as  to  the  learner  having 
been  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  two  preceding  steps  was 
correct,  the  product  is  O.  K.  and  the  lesson  has  been  put 
over.  If  the  product  is  not  O.  K.  the  instructor  guessed 
wrong  in  step  3,  must  go  back  to  it,  do  some  more  checking 
up  and  straightening  up  and  then  inspect  again.  He  must 
not  "  let  go  "  on  his  instructing  job  until  the  learner  has 
demonstrated  beyond  question  that  he  can  do  that  job 
unaided,  and  can  be  depended  upon  to  keep  on  doing  it  when 

he  is  "  on  his  own." 

It  is  evident  that  in  step  4  the  instructor  uses  no  line  of 
approach  since  this  is  only  a  testing  step.  By  the  way  that 
he  does  the  job  unaided  the  learner  does  inform  the  instructor 
as  to  the  results,  of  the  "  inspection." 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

PICKING  OUT  THE  BEST  METHODS  AND  LINES 
OF  APPROACH  FOR  A  GIVEN  INSTRUCTING  JOB 

Preliminary. — ^The  last  section  described  what  were 
called  the  instructor's  "tools"  (methods  and  lines  of 
approach),  and  pointed  out  that  an  instructor  would  select 
and  use  those  that  would  give  the  best  results  for  the  particu- 
lar instructing  job  under  consideration,  with  regard  to 
whether  the  lesson  was  on  a  production  job  or  on  a  technical 
job  and  with  regard  to  the  learner.  This  section  makes  some 
suggestions  along  that  line,  that  are  intended  to  be  of  service 
to  a  foreman  who  may  have  instructing  responsibilities. 

Different  Kinds  of  Instructing  Jobs. — In  general  there 
are  two  things  that  determine  the  particular  character  of 
an  instructing  job,  the  kind  of  a  teaching  unit  and  the 
kind  of  a  learner. 

A.     KINDS  OF  LESSONS 

The  Kind  of  a  Teaching  Unit.— So  far  as  a  foreman's 
probable  instructing  responsibilities  go  he  may  have  to 
instruct  in  two  different  kinds  of  jobs,  production  jobs 
and  technical  jobs.  As  the  distinction  between  these  two 
kinds  of  jobs  is  sometimes  rather  important  it  is  taken 
up  here. 

Technical  and  Production  Jobs. — ^As  already  defined,  a 
job,  as  the  word  is  used  in  this  book,  means  anything  that  a 
worker  is  paid  to  do,  but  in  production  work  there  are  some 
jobs  that,  when  completed,  bring  the  stock  one  step  nearer 
to  the  finished  product  of  the  department.  Such  jobs  always 
in  some  way  affect  stock.  Such  jobs  may  be  called  produc- 
tion jobs.  There  are  in  practically  all  plants  a  number  of 
jobs  that  do  not  directly  affect  stock  but  are  a  necessary 
step  in  the  getting  out  of  the  stock.  Such  jobs  may  be  called 

408 


PICKING  OUT  BEST  METHODS  OF  APPROACH 


499 


technical  jobs,  Foi*  example,  making  a  blue  print  is  a  pro- 
duction job  for  the  blue  print  room,  but  figuring  the  correct 
number  of  gears  on  a  lathe,  or  getting  those  values  from  a 
gear  table  would  be  a  technical  job.  Making  a  working 
drawing  in  the  drafting  room  would  be  a  production  job  for 
that  department  but  reading  the  blue  print  in  the  shop  would 
be  a  technical  job.  Estimating  the  cost  of  certain  repairs 
would  be  a  technical  job,  but  actually  making  the  repairs 
would  be  a  production  job.  A  pattern  maker,  in  making  his 
lay-out  would  be  doing  a  technical  job,  but  making  the  pat- 
tern from  the  lay-out  would  be  a  production  job. 

Characteristics  of  the  Technical  Job. — ^In  general  this 
sort  of  a  job  presents  these  characteristics: 

(1)  It  is  not  a  direct  production  job. 

(2)  It  requires  the  application  of  special  knowledge. 

(3)  It  is  a  necessary  part  of  getting  out  production, 
though  not  itself  a  production  job. 

(4)  It  need  not  be  done  where  the  production  job  to 
which  it  contributes  is  done. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  figuring  on  a  steel  bridge  might 
be  done  in  Chicago,  the  drawing  made  in  Middleton,  Ohio, 
and  the  bridge  built  in  California,  but  the  figuring  and  the 
drawing  would  have  to  be  done  before  the  bridge  could  be 
built.  The  majority  of  technical  jobs  call  for  the  exercise  of 
intelligence  and  judgment  in  the  use  of  mathematics,  draw- 
ing or  other  educational  "  tools."  Often  there  is  more 
than  one  way  of  doing  the  job  and  the  method  must  be 
selected  that  is  the  best  under  the  special  conditions.  In 
few  cases  are  technical  jobs  carried  out  in  a  purely  automatic 
way.  To  make  a  general  distinction  it  might  be  said  that  a 
technical  job  is  almost  always  either  a  planning  job  or  a 
laying-out  job,  and  are  commonly  spoken  of  as  problems 
rather  than  jobs. 

Characteristics  of  the  Production  Job. — ^As  distinguished 

from  the  production  job  the  technical  job  presents  these 
characteristics : 


500 


THE  FOREBIAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


1.  The  job  gives  a  definite  production  product. 

2.  It  requires  the  use  of  tools  or  machines,  that  is,  what 
would  be  commonly  called  mechanical  equipment. 

3.  It  requires  mechanical  skill  and  job  intelligence  in  the 
use  of  these  tools  and  machines. 

4.  As  a  result  of  the  doing  of  a  production  job,  depart- 
mental stock  is  changed  in  some  way.  (Moved,  shaped, 
formed,  etc.,  as  the  case  may  be.) 

While  a  technical  job  calls  for  the  intelligent  use  of  such 
"  technical  tools  "  as  mathematics,  drawing  science,  etc.,  a 
production  job  calls  for  corresponding  intelligence  and  skill 
in  the  use  of  actual  mechanical  tools  and  machines. 

The  Two  Possible  Instructing  Jobs. — ^A  foreman  may 

therefore  have  instructing  responsibilities  for  putting  over 
either  technical  or  production  lessons,  though,  under  most 
conditions  he  is  likely  to  have  to  deal  with  instruction  on  pro- 
duction jobs  much  more  than  with  the  teaching  of  technical 
jobs,  though  this  will  depend,  of  course,  on  the  particular 
character  of  the  departmental  jobs  under  his  supervision. 

B.    KINDS  OF  LEA&NEKS 

The  Kind  of  a  Learner. — ^It  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter 
XXV  that  a  foreman  might  have  to  instruct: 

(1)  Apprentices,  on  either  technical  or  production  jobs. 

(2)  Green  workers,  usually  taken  on  for  special  jobs. 

(3)  Regular  workers,  on  points  on  their  regular  jobs. 
Apprentices    are    as    a    usual    thing    supposed    to    be 

instructed  in  all  the  production  and  technical  jobs  that  go 
with  the  trade  and,  except  where  some  special  arrangement 
is  made,  such  as  a  part  time  class,  all  this  instruction  is  up 
to  the  foreman.  They  get  it  froc?  him,  get  it  themselves  or 
don't  get  it  at  alL 

Green  workers  are  usually  taken  on  for  special  shop  jobs 
or  for  specialized  jobs  according  to  the  character  of  the 
plant,  and  the  foreman  is  in  most  cases  obliged  to  instruct 
them  unless  there  is  a  training  department,  or  he  has  special 
instructors  to  relieve  him  of  that  additional  work. 


PICKING  OUT  BEST  METHODS  OP  APPROACH 


601 


Regular  workers,  assumed  to  be  able  to  do  their  jobs 
will  nevertheless  need  more  or  less  incidental  help  from  time 
to  time.  A  foreman  may  therefore  have  instrucing  responsi- 
bilities as  to : 


Kind  of  Learner. 
Apprentices. 

Kind  of  Lesson. 

Production. 

Technical. 

Kind  of  Job. 
Trade     Jobs      (All 
kinds.) 

Green  help. 

Production. 

Mostly  specialized. 
A  few  trade  jobs. 

Regular  Workers. 

Production. 
Technical. 

Trade  Jobs. 
Specialized  Jobs. 
Laborers  Jobs. 

The  Selection  of  Lines  of  Approach.— On  any  instruct- 
ing job  there  is  always  the  choice  between  the  two  possible 
lines  of  approach.  From  the  descriptions  already  given  it 
must  be  evident  that  the  development  line  of  approach  takes 
more  time  and  requires  greater  instructing  skill  than  does 
the  informational  line  of  approach.  From  the  instructing 
standpoint  the  question  is  always  **  Will  it  pay  in  terms  of 
time  and  effort  to  use  the  development  line  of  approach?  ** 
Now  as  has  already  been  stated  in  a  general  way  this  depends 
on  the  kind  of  a  teaching  job  that  has  to  be  done  and  the 
kind  of  a  learner.  While  each  case  must  be  considered  *^on 
its  merits,**  the  following  statements  wiU  generally  apply. 

(1)  The  more  thinking  required  on  the  job  the  more 
likely  is  the  development  line  of  approach  to  be  the  more 
desirable  to  use.    This  will  be  true  in  general  for: 

(a)  Jobs  in  skilled  trades. 

(b)  Jobs  where  there  may  be  possiMe  modifications 
in  the  way  that  operations  may  be  carried  out  and  the 
man  on  the  job  must  therefore  use  judgment. 

(c)  Jobs  where  worker  must  exercise  ingenuity  in 
(dealing  with  situations  that  may  come  up. 


500 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


PICKING  OUT  BEST  METHODS  OP  APPROACH 


501 


1.  The  job  gives  a  definite  production  product. 

2.  It  requires  the  use  of  tools  or  machines,  that  is,  what 
would  be  commonly  called  mechanical  equipment. 

3.  It  requires  mechanical  skill  and  job  intelligence  in  the 
use  of  these  tools  and  machines. 

4.  As  a  result  of  the  doing  of  a  production  job,  depart- 
mental stock  is  changed  in  some  way.  (Moved,  shaped, 
formed,  etc.,  as  the  case  may  be.) 

While  a  technical  job  calls  for  the  intelligent  use  of  such 
"  technical  tools  "  as  mathematics,  drawing  science,  etc.,  a 
production  job  calls  for  corresponding  intelligence  and  skill 
in  the  use  of  actual  mechanical  tools  and  machines. 

The  Two  Possible  Instructing  Jobs. — ^A  foreman  may 

therefore  have  instructing  responsibilities  for  putting  over 
either  technical  or  production  lessons,  though,  under  most 
conditions  he  is  likely  to  have  to  deal  with  instruction  on  pro- 
duction jobs  much  more  than  with  the  teaching  of  technical 
jobs,  though  this  will  depend,  of  course,  on  the  particular 
character  of  the  departmental  jobs  under  his  supervision. 

B.    KINDS  OF  LEARNERS 

The  Kind  of  a  Learner. — It  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter 
XXV  that  a  foreman  might  have  to  instruct: 

(1)  Apprentices,  on  either  technical  or  production  jobs. 

(2)  Green  workers,  usually  taken  on  for  special  jobs. 

(3)  Regular  workers,  on  points  on  their  regular  jobs. 
Apprentices    are    as    a    usual    thing    supposed    to    be 

instructed  in  all  the  production  and  technical  jobs  that  go 
with  the  trade  and,  except  where  some  special  arrangement 
is  made,  such  as  a  part  time  class,  all  this  instruction  is  up 
to  the  foreman.  They  get  it  from  him,  get  it  themselves  or 
don't  get  it  at  alL 

Green  workers  are  usually  taken  on  for  special  shop  jobs 
or  for  specialized  jobs  according  to  the  character  of  the 
plant,  and  the  foreman  is  in  most  cases  obliged  to  instruct 
them  unless  there  is  a  training  department,  or  he  has  special 
instructors  to  relieve  him  of  that  additional  work. 


Regular  workers,  assumed  to  be  able  to  do  their  jobs 
will  nevertheless  need  more  or  less  incidental  help  from  time 
to  time.  A  foreman  may  therefore  have  instrucing  responsi- 
bilities as  to : 


Kind  of  Learner. 
Apprentices. 

Kind  of  Lesson. 

Production. 

Technical. 

Kind  of  Job. 
Trade     Jobs      (All 
kinds.) 

Green  help. 

Production. 

Mostly  specialized. 
A  few  trade  jobs. 

Regular  Workers. 

• 

Production. 
Technical. 

Trade  Jobs. 
Specialized  Jobs. 
Laborers  Jobs. 

The  Selection  of  Lines  of  Approach. — On  any  instruct- 
ing job  there  is  always  the  choice  between  the  two  possible 
lines  of  approach.  From  the  descriptions  already  given  it 
must  be  evident  that  the  development  line  of  approach  takes 
more  time  and  requires  greater  instructing  skill  than  does 
the  informational  line  of  approach.  From  the  instructing 
standpoint  the  question  is  always  "  Will  it  pay  in  terms  of 
time  and  effort  to  use  the  development  line  of  approach?  " 
Now  as  has  already  been  stated  in  a  general  way  this  depends 
on  the  kind  of  a  teaching  job  that  has  to  be  done  and  the 
kind  of  a  learner.  While  each  case  must  be  considered  "on 
its  merits,"  the  following  statements  will  generally  apply. 

(1)  The  more  thinking  required  on  the  job  the  more 
likely  is  the  development  line  of  approach  to  be  the  more 
desirable  to  use.    This  will  be  true  in  general  for: 

(a)  Jobs  in  skilled  trades. 

(b)  Jobs  where  there  may  be  possible  modifications 
in  the  way  that  operations  may  be  carried  out  and  the 
man  on  the  job  must  therefore  use  judgment. 

(c)  Jobs  where  worker  must  exercise  ingenuity  in 
dealing  with  situations  that  may  come  up. 


ffl 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


'i 


This  practically  amounts  to  saying  that  where  a  worker 
"must  use  his  head  on  the  job"  the  development  line  of 
approach  should  be  used.  It  will  "  pay  "  under  these  con- 
ditions, so  far  as  the  nature  of  the  job  goes. 

(2)  As  regards  the  kind  of  learner  it  is  in  general  true 
that  the  more  he  already  knows  about  the  job,  the  more 
experience  he  has  had,  the  greater  the  probability  that  the 
informational  line  of  approach  will  work  all  right  and  be 
safely  used.     Such  cases  might  be : 

(a)  Giving  incidental  instruction  to  generally 
competent  workers. 

(b)  Giving  instruction  to  learners  on  jobs  that  are 
very  much  like  jobs  that  they  have  already  learned 
how  to  do. 

The  Selection  of  Methods. — As  given  there  are  practi- 
cally four  methods  that  require  consideration ;  the  demonstra- 
tion, the  illustration,  the  question,  and  the  lecture,  as  possi- 
ble methods  that  can  be  used  in  steps  1  or  2.  As  already 
pointed  out  there  is  no  chance  as  to  methods  in  steps  3  and  4, 
so  the  matter  is  not  taken  up  so  far  as  those  steps  are  con- 
cerned. As  these  methods  were  described  in  the  last  section 
the  only  points  taken  up  here  are  their  relative  advantages 
for  different  sorts  of  teaching  jobs. 

The  Demonstration  Metiiod. — The  demonstration  is 
unquestionably  the  proper  method  to  use  whenever  possible 
when  instructing  green  learners  on  production  jobs.  Under 
these  conditions  there  is  practically  no  other  method  that  can 
be  used  to  any  advantage.  In  the  case  of  giving  incidental 
instruction  to  competent  workers  the  method  of  illustration 
can  be  sometimes  substituted  for  it,  as  is  taken  up  later,  but, 
in  general,  it  is  the  standard  method  for  all  shop  instruction 
and  a  foreman  should  be  very  sure  of  his  ground  before  he 
substitutes  either  of  the  other  methods  for  it  in  instructing 
on  shop  jobs. 

The  case  of  technical  jobs  is  somewhat  different. 
Although  the  same  general  principle  holds  there  are  many 


PICKING  OUT  BEST  METHODS  OF  APPROACH 


503 


cases  where  illustration  can  be  substituted  for  demonstra- 
tion. This  is  most  likely  to  be  true  on  technical  lessons 
with  workers  of  considerable  experience,  where  the  techni- 
cal job  to  be  taught  is  very  much  like  jobs  that  they 
already  knew  how  to  do.  For  example,  suppose  the  techni- 
cal job  of  taking  an  indicator  card  from  a  new  type  of  indi- 
cator was  to  be  put  over  to  a  group  of  steam  engineers. 
Probably  under  these  conditions  time  would  be  saved  and 
the  instructing  job  would  be  done  as  well  by  using  diagrams 

as  by  using  the  real  indicator. 

The  Method  of  Illustration. — ^This  method  should  always 
be  regarded  as  a  substitute  for  the  demonstration  method. 
It  must  always  be  remembered  that  this  method  requires  the 
learner  to  look  at  one  thing  which  is  not  the  real  thing,  and 
at  the  same  time  see  the  real  thing  in  his  mind.  Evidently 
he  can  only  do  this  when  he  is  familiar  with  the  real  thing. 
This  is  why  this  method  will  work  well  in  many  cases  with 
experienced  men  but  will  not  work  well  with  green  men.  In 
all  cases  there  is  an  additional  mental  effort  required  of  the 
learner  to  make  the  "  carry  over  "  from  the  picture  or  dia- 
gram, or  sketch,  or  model  that  is  used  to  make  him  think 
of  the  real  thing.  Since  this  always  means  a  greater  or  less 
additional  "  learning  friction,"  which  is,  of  course,  less  as 
the  learner  is  more  familiar  with  the  real  thing.  Great  care 
should  be  taken  to  use  this  method  only  when  an  instructor 
is  sure  that  the  "  learning  friction  "  will  be  so  slight  that  it 
will  be  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  gain  in  time  in 

putting  the  lesson  over. 

Dangers  in  the  Use  of  the  Method  of  Illustration.— The 

great  danger  in  connection  with  this  method  is  that  it  is 
often  easier  for  an  instructor  to  use  than  the  demonstration 
method,  and  so  he  tends  to  use  it  in  cases  where  it  wont 
work,  especially  if  he  is  hard  pressed  for  time  or  is  plain 
lazy,  when  with  a  little  special  effort  he  could  use  the  demon- 
stration instead.  • 

The  choice  between  the  two  methods  should  therefore  be 


504 


THE  FOREMAN  AND  HIS  JOB 


PICKING*  OUT  BEST  BiETHODS  OF  APPROACH 


iii 


based  not  on  which  is  the  easier  for  the  instructor  but  on 
careful  decision  as  to  whether,  with  regard  to  the  sort  of 
learner  and  the  sort  of  job  to  be  taught,  time  can  be  saved 
and  the  instructing  job  be  put  over  just  as  effectively.  That 
is,  the  method  of  illustration  should  be  regarded  as  an  instruc- 
tional time-saving  "tool,"  where  it  will  work.  In  case  of 
any  doubt  as  to  this  point  use  the  demonstration  method, 
if  it  can  possibly  be  done  even  at  the  expense  of  more  time 
and  trouble. 

The  Lecture  Method.— This  method  has  no  place  in 
instructing  on  shop  or  on  technical  jobs.  It  has  been  included 
in  the  list  of  possible  methods  mainly  because  many  foremen 
do  tend  to  use  it  in  instructing  on  jobs  of  this  character.  It 
may  happen  however  that,  in  addition  to  instructing  on  jobs, 
a  foreman  may  have  occasion  to  **  put  over  "  certain  infor- 
mation to  a  group  of  his  men,  where  the  lecture  method 
combined  with  the  development  line  of  approach  may  be  of 
service.  The  same  dangers  exist  here  as  in  the  case  of  the 
method  of  illustration,  only  because  lecturing  is  even  more 
easy  than  illustrating,  these  dangers  are  even  worse. 

Bearing  in  mind  that  each  case  must  be  decided  on  its 
merits  the  following  table  suggests  the  general  principles 
that  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  determining  what  method  to 
use  for  a  given  kind  of  lesson  and  a  given  kind  of  learner. 


-  Kind  of  Learner. 

Kind  of  Lesson. 

Method. 

Green  Learner. 

Production  Job. 
Technical  Job. 

Demonstration. 

Experienced  worker. 

Production  Job. 
Technical  Job. 

Demonstration      or 
Illustration. 

Very      Experienced 
Worker. 

Production  Job. 
Technical  Job. 

Illustration  in  most 

cases. 
Discussion. 

Anybody. 

General  Information . 

Lecture,     in      some 
cases  with  de- 
velopmentline 
of  approach. 
Lecture. 

Worker. 


Very      Experienced  Very  slight  addition 


to  knowledge. 


Lecture. 


APPENDIX 


vf 


u 


m 


APPENDIX  A 

THE  USE  OF  THIS  BOOK  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 
FOREMEN'S  CONFERENCES 

Preliminary. — ^As  stated  in  the  preface  this  book  is  essen- 
tially a  compilation  of  points  that  have  been  brought  up 
and  discussed  in  conferences  of  foremen  where  the  purpose 
of  the  conference  was  to  provide  an  opportunity  for  the 
"pooling"  of  experiences  and  the  free  discussion  of  matters 
affecting  the  foreman's  job. 

This  material  was  brought  together  to  serve  two  pur- 
poses, first,  to  assist  anyone  who  might  have  the  responsi- 
bility for  conducting  such  conferences,  by  placing  at  their 
disposal  a  considerable  amount  of  information  on  which  they 
could  draw  in  making  up  programs  and  in  planning  the 
work  for  a  series  of  such  meetings  and  second,  to  provide 
printed  material  that  could  be,  under  suitable  conditions, 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  conference  members. 

These  matters  are  therefore  taken  up  in  the  two  follow- 
ing sections :  Section  1  indicating  briefly  some  ways  in  which 
a  Conference  Leader  may  use  this  material  to  advantage  and 
Section  2  giving  certain  information  based  on  the  experi- 
ence of  those  who  have  been  conducting  such  conferences, 
as  to  the  most  effective  way  in  which  it  can  be  used  when 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  men. 

A  considerable  amount  of  information  bearing  upon  the 
initiation  and  conduct  of  such  conferences  will  be  found  in 
Bulletin  No.  36,  Trade  and  Industrial  Series  No.  7,  Part 
1,  issued  by  the  Federal  Board  of  Vocational  Education, 
Washington,  D.C.,  and  the  information  contained  therein  is 
therefore  not  repeated  here. 

SECTION  I 

THE  USE  OF  THIS  MATEEIAL  BY  A  CONFEEENCE  LEADEB 

In  general,  as  stated  above,  this  book  contains  a  large 
amount  of  material  which  foremen  have  found  interesting 


MO 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


Ml 


and  profitable  to  discuss.  In  addition,  it  indicates  the  gen- 
eral way  in  which  the  discussions  have  gone  and  the  points 
brought  out. 

It  can  therefore  be  used  by  a  conference  leader  as  a 
source  from  which  he  can  draw  in  laying  out  a  program  or 
in  planning  for  a  given  meeting.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  make  the  discussion  complete  or  to  cover  all  pos- 
sible points,  or  even  to  completely  cover  the  entire  fore- 
man's job,  and  it  will  undoubtedly  be  necessary  to  both 
select  and  supplement. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  while  the  different  chapters  take 
up  the  different  subjects  in  a  certain  order,  this  order  would 
not,  of  necessity  be  followed.  For  example,  while  the  matter 
of  job  analysis  is  taken  up  almost  at  first  it  is  quite  possi- 
ble, and  often  desirable,  to  take  up  first  work  in  the  human 
factor  field,  while  with  certain  groups  it  may  be  possible 
that  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  go  into  the  matter  of  job 
analysis  at  all. 

Again,  while  the  order  of  the  presentation  is,  in  general, 
first  the  discussion  of  supervisory  responsibilities,  following 
this  by  a  corresponding  discussion  of  cost  elements,  mana- 
gerial problems,  and  in  some  cases,  ways  and  means,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  this  would  be  the  most  effective  order 
for  a  given  group. 

The  material  is  therefore  put  up  with  the  idea  that  it 
will  serve  a  conference  leader  essentially  as  a  "  cafeteria  " 
from  which  he  can  select  whatever  he  considers  desirable  for 
his  purpose,  and  which  he  can  take  up  in  any  desired  order. 

It  is  on  account  of  the  assumption  that  the  order  of 
presentation  as  given  will  not  be  of  necessity  followed,  that 
in  a  number  of  chapters  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  repeti- 
tion, so  that  to  a  certain  extent,  each  chapter  could  be 
regarded  as  an  independent  unit. 

From  the  standpoint  of  a  conference  leader  this  book 
IS  therefore  intended  to  be  of  service  in  the  following  ways. 


First,  as  suggesting  subjects  for  conferences,  and  second  as 
providing  suggestive  and  more  or  less  complete  material  from 
which  individual  conference  programs  may  be  made  up,  and 
third  by  providing  suggestive  samples  of  other  material  such 
as  points  for  discussion,  cases  for  discussion,  forms,  etc., 
which  under  ceotain  conditions  are  extremely  serviceable,  but 
which  each  conference  leader  must  to  a  considerable  extent 
develop  in  accordance  with  the  special  make-up  of  his  groups 
and  the  special  character  of  his  program. 

Suggested    Subjects   for   Conferences. — ^In    considering 
setting  up  a  program  for  a  series  of  conferences  the  sub- 
jects cannot  be  taken  from  the  chapter  headings  but  must 
be  drawn  from  the  text  itself.    For  instance,  under  coopera- 
tion, these  chapters  deal  with  a  number  of  possible  subjects 
such  as,  for  illustration,  cooperation  with  superiors  and  pos- 
sible responsibilities  for  noting  chances  for  cooperation  with 
equals.    It  might  well  bo  that  one  of  these  possible  subjects 
would  be  of  interest  to  a  given  group  and  the  other  would 
not,  so  that  either  chapter  as  a  whole  would  not  be  desir- 
able for  use.     Since  this  whole  question  is  affected  by  the 
methods  used  in  laying  out  the  program  of  conference  sub- 
jects two  of  the  more  common  methods  of  procedure  are 
briefly  described  in  the  following  paragraphs.     These  two 
methods  may,  for  convenience,  be  designated  as  the  "general 
covering  method  "  and  the  "  specific  improvement  method.  " 
The  General  Covering  Method. — In  making  up  a  pro- 
gram by  this  method  the  program  is  made  out  with  the 
idea  of  covering,  so  far  as  possible,  all  responsibilities  that 
may  come  into  the  duty  of  the  members  of  the  group.     In 
this  case  the  selection  of  subjects  would  be  determined  by  the 
particular  duty  of  the  men  as  fixed'  by  the  organization  and 
procedure  of  the  plant  or  plants  in  which  they  were  employed 
This  would,  of  course,  have  to  be  determined  by  informa- 
tion secured  from  the  plants  and  by  some  sort  of  a  prelimi- 
nary investigation. 


518 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


518 


The  Specific  Improvement  Method — In  making  up  a 
program  by  this  method,  the  subjects  selected  are  those  which 
it  is  believed  would  be  of  special  interest  when  discussed  in 
conference.  This  program  would  be  also  based  on  some  sort 
of  a  preliminary  study,  but  in  this  case  this  study  would 
take  into  consideration  the  relative  "interest  values"  of 
the  different  subjects.  The  selection  of  subjects  in 
this  case  would  therefore  be  based  on  the  special  value 
of  some  possible  subjects  to  the  plant  or  to  the  men,  either 
because  these  subjects  were  of  special  interest  at  that 
special  time  or  because  they  were  "low"  in  that  particular 
plant,  or  for  some  other  valid  reason. 

Where  such  a  program  is  to  be  set  up  it  will  also  be 
found  that  a  very  considerable  number  of  the  desired  points 
are  included  in  the  discussions  in  the  text. 

Making  Up  Programs  for  Individual  Conferences.— 
Experience  has  shown  that  the  successful  conduct  of  a  con- 
ference depends  very  largely  upon  the  degree  to  which  careful 
planning  is  carried  on  in  advance  of  the  meeting  and  this 
planning  is  incorporated  into  what  has  come  to  be  called 
an  operating  sheet.  Such  an  operating  sheet  contains  cer- 
tain information  to  which  the  conference  leader  can  con- 
veniently refer  and  which  serves  as  a  guide  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  discussions.  The  information  and  other  material 
that  it  has  been  found  desirable  to  include  in  such  an  opera- 
ting sheet  will  vary  somewhat  according  to  circumstances, 
but  will,  in  general  contain  at  least  the  following: 

1.  The  general  objective  of  the  meeting. 

2.  The  sub-objectives  that  have  been  determined  upon 
to  lead  up  to  the  general  objective. 

3.  A  number  of  such  suggestive  questions  as  may  have 
been  considered  desirable  to  use. 

4.  If  cases  are  to  be  used,  a  sufficient  number  of  cases  to 
serve  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  to  be  used,  these  cases 
having  been  carefully  selected  and  thought  out  in  advance. 

5.  If  points  for  discussion  are  to  be  used,  a  corresponding 
number  that  have  been  carefully  worked  out  in  the  same  way. 


6.  If  certain  points  are  to  be  developed  in  discussion, 
say  cost  elements,  a  sufficient  number  to  enable  the  confer- 
ence leader  to  check  up  as  the  development  goes  on. 

7.  Such  other  memoranda  as  may  be  necessary. 

Use  of  the  Material  In  Working  Up  An  Operating 
Sheet. — ^The  material  that  is  brought  together  in  this  book 
can  be  used  in  a  variety  of  ways  in  working  out  an  operating 
sheet.  Among  the  points  that  will  be  found  serviceable  are 
the  following: 

1.  A  number  of  formulated  definitions  and  defined  terms 
that  when  used  and  accepted,  tend  to  reduce  unprofitable 
discussion  due  to  lack  of  clear  understanding  as  to  the  point 
of  the  discussion  or  to  different  words  being  used  to  express 
the  same  idea.  The  gradual  setting  up  of  a  common  nomen- 
clature for  use  in  discussion,  is,  in  itself,  a  desirable  piece 
of  work. 

2.  Fairly  complete  lists  of  points  that  have  been  usually 
brought  out  in  discussion,  as  in  the  case  of  ways  in 
which  one  foreman  can  cooperate  with  another  foreman,  or 
as  in  the  case  of  cost  elements.  While  it  must  be  clearly 
imderstood  that  such  lists  are  by  no  means  complete,  and 
that  numerous  other  points  may,  and  probably  will,  be 
brought  out  in  the  discussion,  nevertheless  the  majority  of 
those  that  are  given  are  likely  to  come  out,  and  the  lists 
as  given  will  at  least  give  the  conference  leader  an  idea  of 
what  to  expect  and  will  give  him  something  to  go  on  when 
entered  on  his  operating  sheet.  Moreover,  the  lists  as  given 
will  be  in  themselves  suggestive  of  others  that  he  can  add 
to  those  that  he  may  find  in  the  text. 

3.  The  cases  and  points  for  discussion,  and  the  cases 
that  are  given  at  the  end  of  the  different  parts  are  intended 
to  be  suggestive  in  indicating  the  t3rpes  that  have  been  found 
to  work  well.  Of  course  many  more  such  cases  and  points 
for  discussion  must  be  worked  out  by  the  conference  leader 

ss 


514 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


515 


'^Hi'' 


although  those  that  are  given  will  serve  as  something  to 
start  on. 

4.  In  a  number  of  cases  suggestive  forms  are  also  given 
at  the  end  of  certain  parts.  Those  that  are  given  have  been 
found  to  work  well  but  where  it  is  desired  to  make  much 
use  of  forms  their  value  will  be  more  along  the  line  of  sug- 
gestion as  to  the  manner  in  which  other  forms  can  be 
laid  out. 

5.  The  general  classified  lay-out  of  possible  supervisory 
responsibilities  given  in  Appendix  B  will  serve  to  show  the 
relations  between  any  special  set  of  objectives  that  may  be 
included  in  a  given  program. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  minor  ways  in  which  the 
text  will  be  found  to  be  of  help  in  working  out  an  operating 
sheet  for  a  given  conference,  but  those  given  above  are  the 
more  important  aids. 

The  Necessity  of  Carefully  Planning  for  Each  Con- 
ference.— Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  on  the  necessity 
for  careful  planning  for  each  conference.  Unless  this  is 
done,  the  results  are  almost  certain  to  be  unsatisfactory. 
As  a  rule  two  or  three  hours  of  hard  thinking  are  none  too 
much  for  such  advance  planning. 

SECTION  II 

THE  USE  OF  THE  TEXT  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  THE  MEN 

The  second  use  that  was  in  mind  in  bringing  this  material 
together  was  to  present  **notes"  that  could,  under  proper 
conditions,  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  men  who  attended 
the  conferences.  Since,  if  used  wrongly,  such  printed  material 
will  not  only  fail  to  be  of  service  but  will  do  actual  harm, 
certain  important  points  are  taken  up  in  this  section. 

Purposes  for  Which  the  Text  Can  Be  Used.— Used  as 
a  text,  or  rather  as  "notes,"  the  different  points  taken  up 
in  this  book  may  be  used  for  the  following  purposes : 

1.    After  discussion  it  may  be  used  as  a  "report  of  the 


meeting"  or  as  a  review  of  the  discussion  and  the  conclusions 
put  in  permanent  form  for  future  reference. 

2.  In  many  cases  it  can  be  successfully  used  as  a  refer- 
ence during  discussion  in  the  meeting. 

3.  After  the  particular  points  in  question  have  been 
thrashed  out  in  conference  it  may  be\  used  in  future  confer- 
ences as  a  "back  reference,"  when  some  question  comes  up 
that  refers  back  to  something  that  was  discussed  at  a 
previous  meeting. 

When  used  for  these  purposes  it  is  usually  necessary  to 
supplement  the  text  by  a  report  of  the  meeting  which  covers 
any  important  points  that  were  brought  up  that  are  not 
covered  in  the  text. 

Purposes  for  Which  the  Text  Should  Not  Be  Used.— 
This  material  was  not  prepared  with  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  used  as  a  "  text-book"  from  which  "  assigned  readings  " 
prere  to  be  given  or  "  lessons  "  to  be  assigned,  hence  it  should 
jiever  be  used  for  advance  assignments  in  the  ordinary  school 
sense  of  the  word.  The  different  subjects  are  not  completely 
treated,  the  discussions  are  not  complete,  and  the  whole 
arrangement  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  rather  than 
authoritative.  In  the  case  of  certain  types  of  groups  it  is 
true  that  men  can  be  asked  to  look  up  certain  points  in 
advance  but  the  purpose  of  such  work  would  be  to  rouse 
interest  and  to  get  some  advance  thinking  on  the  subject 
rather  than  to  secure  any  definite  advance  study. 

Points  for  Discussion  and  Cases. — ^In  general,  points 
for  discussion  and  cases  should  be  taken  up  in  the  confer- 
ence. Occasionally  it  is  possible  to  give  out  a  few  in  addition 
to  those  taken  up  in  the  meeting  for  the  men  to  take  with 
them  and  work  up  for  the  next  meeting,  that  is,  they  can 
sometimes  be  used  on  a  "follow  up"  basis,  but  like  the  text, 
they  can  rarely,  if  ever,  be  used  outside  of  the  meeting  in 
advance  of  discussion. 

The  Use  of  Forms. — ^The  same  statements  just  made  as 

to  points  for  discussion  and  cases  will  apply  to  forms.    They 


516 


APPENDIX 


can  rarely  if  ever  be  used  effectively  except  in  the  meeting 
or  on  a  follow-up  basis. 

Use  of  the  Text  by  Parts.—Experience  has  shown  that 
it  is  undesirable  to  give  men  a  considerable  amount  of  mate- 
rial at  once.  If,  for  example,  the  entire  book  were  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  men  at  the  beginning  of  the  meeting  unsatis- 
factory attempts  to  "read  ahead"  tend  to  produce  more  or 
less  confusion  of  thought,  interfere  with  sticking  to  the  point 
in  discussion,  and  in  general  make  for  inefficiency  in  the 
work.  In  order  to  meet  this  situation  and  at  the  same 
time  allow  for  considerable  latitude  in  both  the  selection  and 
and  the  order  of  subjects,  the  material  has  been  made  up  in 
parts  that  can  be  procured  in  sets,  and  it  is  far  better  to 
**feed  out"  these  sets  one  at  a  time  as  the  work  goes  on. 

The  General  Object  of  Foremen's  Conferences. — ^The 
special  type  of  conference  that  was  in  mind  when  this  mate- 
rial was  brought  together  was  a  conference  attended  by  fore- 
men who  were  employed  as  such,  and  the  object  of  such  a 
conference  was  assumed  to  be  the  development  through  dis- 
cussion of  what,  as  a  result  of  their  experience,  they,  in  a 
sense,  already  knew.  It  was  not  assumed  that  the  work 
would  be  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  men  and  women  to 
act  as  foremen  when  they  never  had  been  foremen.  In  other 
words,  this  material  was  intended  to  be  used  in  connection 
with  trade  extension  work  in  foremanship  rather  than  in 
preparatory  foreman  training. 

This  accounts  for  its  special  form  which  would  have  been 
very  different  had  it  been  intended  for  use  in  preparing 
for  foremanship.  It  would  probably  be  serviceable  in  such 
work,  but,  up  to  the  present  time  has  not  been  used  for 
that  purpose. 


APPENDIX  B 

A    CLASSIFIED    LAY-OUT    OF    SOME    POSSIBLE 
SUPERVISORY  RESPONSIBILITIES  IN  A 
FOREMAN'S  JOB 

The  following  pages  contain  a  list  of  possible  supervisory 
responsibilities  that  may  be  included  in  the  foreman's  job, 
classified  according  to  the  classification  system  described  in 
the  body  of  the  text.  This  list  was  compiled  from  the  state- 
ments of  a  considerable  number  of  foremen  as  to  their  super- 
visory responsibilities.  There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  this 
is  complete  and  it  is  very  improbable  that  all  the  responsi- 
bilities given  would  come  into  the  job  of  any  one  foreman.  It 
does,  however,  make  a  suggestive  lay-out  on  which  the  body 
of  the  text  has  been  based,  and  should  serve  as  a  basis  for 
working  out  programs  for  series  of  foremen's  confer- 
ences. As  such,  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  of  value 
to  conference  leaders. 

It  will  also  be  found  of  value  in  making  analysis  of  super- 
visory jobs  by  the  "cafeteria  method"  as  described  in 
the  text. 

SOME    POSSIBLE   GENERAL,    DETAILED   AND   SPECIFIC    EESPQNSI- 
BILITIES  THAT  MAY  COME  INTO  A  FOREMAN'S  JOB 


Baw  Departmental  < 
Stock 


Receiving        from 
Last    Custodian:. 
Taking  over 


One  Icind  only 

Different  grades  of  one  kind 

Several  kinds 

Different  grades  of  different 
kinds 

Different  quantities  of  dif- 
ferent lands 

Different  quantities  of  dif- 
ferent grades 

In  bulk:  in  containers 

617 


518 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


519 


Inspecting 
vious  to 
ance 


pre- 
accept-^ 


Raw  Departmental 
Stock 
(Continued) 


Kind  of  stock 
Quantity  of  stock 
Quality  of  Stock 
Grade  of  stock 
Condition  of  stock 
Condition  of  containers 


Handling       inter- 
mediate products  ^ 


Stock    in    Process  - 
(Continued) 


Transportation  from  one 
operating  point  to  another 
operating  point 


Unloading         and 
transporting    to 
storage    by    use" 
of 


i 


Putting  into  stor- 
age by  the  use  of 


And 

Storing  in 


Hand  work 

Wheel  barrows 

Man  trucks 

Teams 

Motor  trucks 

Mechanical   conveyers 

Elevators 

Etc 

Hand  work 

Wheel  barrows 

Man  trucks 

Horses,  hoisting  engines, 
^       motors,  etc. 

Motor  trucks  (small  elec- 
tric) 

Mechanical  conveyers  ele- 
vators, etc. 

f  Bins    Cans  (sealed) 
Barrels  Cans    (open) 
Boxes    Tanks 

Packages  Barrels  (powder) 
Racks      Barrels    (liquid) 
Drums    Pressure  tanks 
Out  of  doors    Under  cover 


Finished  Stock 


Storing  to  provide/  Arrangement 
***'  j^  Accessibility 


I 


Protection 
in  storage 


while 


A 


Stock  in  Process    ^ 


Getting     out 
storage 


of 


Transporting 
first       operating 
point 


tof 


Damage 

Loss 

Theft 

Adulteration 

Special  protection 

Condition  of  stock 

Condition  of  containers 

Weather 

The  right  quantity 
The  right  quality 
The  right  grade 
The  right  size 

Transporting 

Protecting  while  In  transit 


r  Protecting  while  in  transit 
Storing       between]    Protecting   while   stored 
operating  points  )    Arranging 

L  Classifying 

-  ..  f  Quantity 

Inspecting        pre- I    g^^^^ 

vious  to  passmg  ^  Q^aUty 


Storing  in 


Transporting 
storage  by 


to 


Protecting  while  in 
transportation 


1 


Storing  in 


Delivery  in 


i 


Delivery  by 


Protecting  from 


1 


Bulk 

Bins 

Racks 

Cans 

Tanks 

Man 
Trucks 

Electric  trucks 
Conveyers 

Fire 

Loss 
Theft 

Adulteration 
Moisture 

Bins 
Bulk 
Packages 
Cans 

Bulk 
Package 
Open  cans 
Closed  cans 
Boxes 
Barrels 

Trucks 

Men 

Electric  trucks 

Teams 

Cranes 

Weather 

Loss 

Theft 

Fire 

Damage 


520 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


521 


Equipment  In 
Service 


i 


Maintenance 


Protection 


Use 


Securing 


Handling 


'  Operation  control 


Operation  Control  •> 


Production 
methods 


Adjusting 

Repairing 

Overliauling 

Condemning 

Replacing 

Inspecting 

Carrying  reserve 

Protecting  from  damage 
Protecting  from  abuse 
Controlling  output 
Making  special  volume  ar* 

rangements    to    meet    an 

emergency 
Rearranging  equipment 

Assigning  equipment  units 
to  jobs 

Balancing  equipment  units 
when  assigning  to  jobs 

Laying  out  special  assign- 
ments of  units  for  jobs 

Selecting  types 

Buying 

Installing 

r  Receiving 

Inspecting 
I    Laying  out 

Grouping 

Balancing 

(Recommending,  Suggesting, 
Acting) 


^  Starting  jobs 
Stopping  jobs 
Checking     jobs     while     in 

operation 
Looking   out   for   operating 

conditions     while    job    is 

going  on 

Determining  operations 
Determining  processes 
Determining    special    proc- 
esses or  operation 


{ 


r  Securing   the    Re- 
quired Product  "^ 


•Operation  Control^ 
(Continued) 


Production 
Control 


•New  operations 
and  processes 


i 


Changing  opera- 
tions 


Working  out  new 
operations 


Keeping  up  the 
worldng  force 


Covering  all  jobs    " 


'  Getting  the  necessary  or  re- 
quired amounts  of  inter- 
mediate products. 

Getting  the  necessary  or  re- 
quire amount  of  final 
product 

Getting  the  necessary  quali- 
ties or  grades  of  inter- 
mediate and  final  prod- 
ucts 

Inspecting  Intermediate 

products 
Inspecting  final  products 

Operating  waste 
Operating  yield 
Conversion 
By-products 

Changing  processes 
Changing  operations 

Changing  worldng  conditions 

Supervising  experimental 
work 

Making  suggestions 

As  to  necessary  strength 
As  to  necessary  job  knowl- 
edge 
As  to  necessary  job  skill 
On  highly  skilled  jobs 
On  medium  skilled  jobs 
On  specialized  jobs 
On  machine-tending  jobs 
On  laborers  jobs 


Making     transfers 
from  one   grade-* 
of  job  to  another 


'  Promoting* 
Demoting 

Shiftings  from  one  job  to 
another  of  the  same  grade 

•  By  recommendation,  direct 
action  or  suggestion  as  to 
the  case  may  be 


•Note.-— Since  this  question  of  responsibilities  in  this  part  of  the  fore- 
man's job  goes  over  into  the  field  of  job  and  technical  knowledge  the 
analysis  is  not  carried  out  furtlier  in.  this  set  of  possible  specific 
responsibilities.. 


JE00 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


528 


Distributing     the 
working  force 


Dealing  with  per- 
manent       labor-* 
loss 


Hiring 

Discharging  * 
Providing  understudies 
Securing  transfers  of  work- 
ers   from    other    depart- 
ments. 
*  By  recommendation,  direct 
action  or  suggestion  as 
to  the  case  may  be 


'HI 

■WKi: 


Recording 


Dealing  with  tem-f   "Doubling  up" 
porary  labor  lossi    Making  temporary  transfers 


Amount  on  hand 
Amount  in  process 
Amount  ready  for  delivery 
Amount  delivered  up   to   a 

certain  date 
Progress  of  production 
Inspection  records 
Records  as  to  condition 
Records  of  stock  orders 
Records  of  rework  tickets 
Records  of  job  tickets 
Records  of  stock  requisitions 
Special  records 


Stodc 


Operations  and 
processes 


Tools  and  equip- 
ment 


Records  on  operating  waste 
Records  on  operating  time 
Records  on  operating  power 
Records  on  results  of  routine 

tests 
Records  on  results  of  special 

tests 
Conversion  records 
Records  of  yield 
Special  records 

Inventories  of  equipment  in 

service 
Requisitions  for  maintenance 
work 
for  new  tools 
for  tool  repairs 
for  replacements 
Inventories   of  complete 
equipment 
of    tools    and    acces- 
sories 
Special  records 


Recording 
(Continued) 


{ 


The  working  force-. 


Giving  information  •< 


Orders 


Directions 


Suggestions 


» 


Reporting  on 


Stock 


Operations  and 
processes 


Tools  and  equip- 
ment 


r   Number  at  work 
Number  taken  on 
Number  discharged 
Number  that  quit 
Number  of  transfers 
Number  of  absences 
Number  late 
Number  of  accidents 
Special  records 


{ 


Direct  to  the  working  foi'cb 
General  orders 

To  the  working  force 


To  the  working  force 
To  immediate  superiors 
-^  To  the  management 
To  other  foremen 
^  To  other  departments 


Amount  on  hand 
Amount  in  process 
Amount  finished 
Amount  ordered 
Progress 

Reports  as  to  conditions 
Rework  tickets 
Requisitions 
^  Job  tickets 

Operating  waste 
Time  reports 
Power  reports 
Special  tests 
Routine  tests 
Production 
^  Conversion 

Equipment  in  service 
Maintenance  requisitions 
Requisitions  for  new  tools 
Requisitions  for  replace- 
ments 
Reports  on  condition  of 

equipment 
Reports  on  general  repairs 

or  alterations 
Requisitions  for  general  re- 
pairs or  alterations 


524 


APPENDIX 


APPENDDi: 


5U 


{ 


The  woridog  force 


Number  at  work 
Workers  taken  on 
Workers  discharged 
Transfers 
Absences 
Accidents 


Deferred  responsi- 
bilities set  up  by  ^ 
tiie  organization 


Tlie  general  man- 
agement 


Immediate 
superior! 


Other  foremen 


Making  suggestions 
Carrying  out  policies 
Protecting  tools    and 

equipment 
General  plant  protection 
Transmitting  general  orders 
^  Carrying  out  policies 

Making  suggestions 
Making  recommendations 
Carrying  out  orders 
Transmitting  orders 
•*  Backing  up  " 
Getting  out  the  product 
Seeing  that  all  jobs  are 
properly  carried  out 


J    Furnishing  information  as 


The  physical  con- 
dition    of     the 
working  force 
(Continued) 


General  physical 
conditions 


Working      condi- 
tions as  to 


'/ 


1       requested 


r  Transmitting  orders 
The  working  force  J   Giving  orders 

(^  Giving  directions 

Special  depart-         f  Furaishing  information  as 
ments  i       requested 

V.  Transmitting  information 


The  mental  atti- 
tude of  the 
worldng  force 


»i 


The  physical  oon- 
d i t i o n  of  the-* 
working  force 


Actual  physical 
injury:  safety 


lUnest 


{ 


Injuries  to  the  worker 
Injuries  to  others 


{Temporary  illness 
Indpient  disease 
Acute  illness 
Chronic  illness 
Infectious  disease 
Contagious  disease 


Leadership 


i 


Interest 


^  Satisfaction 


Physical  handicaps  (V.  R., 
I.  R.) 

Overfatigue 

Susceptibility  to  injury  on 
account  of  special  weak- 
ness 

Concentrated  attention 

Over  speeding 

Personal  habits  outside  the 
plant  that  interfere  with 
work  on  the  job 

General  outside  conditions 

General  health 
(^  Retraining  cases 

Air 
Light 
•{   Occupational  dangers 
Special  job  dangers 
General  surroundings 


Planning  ahead 

Getting   the   right   men   on 

the  right  job 
Keeping  up  the  organization 
Fixing  responsibility 
Not  trying  to  be  "it" 
Looking  out  for  the  men 
Getting    the    "team" 

with  him 

Noting  the  mental  attitude 
as  to: 
Interest  in  the  work  job 
Interest    in    the    depart- 
mental job 
Interest  in  the  plant  job 

Noting  the  mental  attitude 

as  to; 
Satisfaction  with  working 

conditions 
Satisfaction  as  to  general 

surroundings 
Satisfaction     as    to     the 

plant 


APPENDIX 


SOME  POSSIBLE  COOPERATIVE  RESPONSIBILITIES 


s 


General 
cooperative 
responsibilities 


Detailed 


The  general 
management 


Immediate 
superiors 


Other  foremen 


The  working 
force 


Special 
departments 


J 


Specific. 

• 

Giving  plant  information  to 
workers 

Having  plant  pride. 

Not  "knocking" 

Heading  off  incorrect  plant 
gossip 

"  Being  a  part  of  the  organi- 
zation " 

J   As  for  general  superiors 

^  Appreciating  the  other  fel- 
low's troubles 

Not  knocking  other  depart- 
ments 

Playing  fair  with  other 
foremen 

Cooperating  on  production 

Securing  the  best  possible 
working  conditions  as  to: 

a.  Condition  of  tools        * 

b.  Condition    of    equip- 
ment 

Securing  the  best  possible 
general  surrounding! 

J   Helping  them  along 
1   Backing  them  up 


( 


i 


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M^ri  C^lll      AUG  2  91994 


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